


Heterochromance

by Sable (Celeritous)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Depressive Thoughts, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Post-Volume 7 (RWBY), Salem Needs a Hug, Soulmates, Suicidal Thoughts, Volume 7 (RWBY), Weiss Schnee Needs a Hug, eventual polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:07:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26923360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celeritous/pseuds/Sable
Summary: When soulmates meet one of their eyes becomes that of their soulmate. The world of Remnant calls them 'Heterochromatic' and this is the story of how two women on opposing sides of a war met their soulmate.
Relationships: Cinder Fall/Summer Rose, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Neopolitan/Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose/Salem (RWBY), Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 50
Kudos: 225





	1. Fleeting Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How could two people on opposing sides of a war such as this be soulmates?

Ruby Rose had never really given much thought to romance. While others would gossip and swoon at the idea of meeting their soulmate and becoming Heterochromatic, Ruby was too busy training to become a Huntress. Socially awkward they called her. She just found she had more important things to focus on, like weapons and killing grimm. She had been forced to grow up with the ever present reminder that the grimm were a threat that everyone had to worry about, and that no one could be sure they were safe from.

So when Salem rose from the black mist pouring out of a grimm that she had never seen before, Ruby was laser focused. She didn’t notice the faint heat in her left eye, instead she focused on the echoing words spoken by the Queen of the Grimm.

“The brave huntsmen and huntresses bested Arthur Watts. Congratulations.” Salem’s tone was far from congratulatory.

It was time to be brave. “We stopped Tyrian too, and we’ll stop Cinder and anyone else you try to send here.” Ruby said with growing determination. Her eye was still hot as she stepped forward to confront Salem head on.

“Dear girl, their goal was never victory; it was merely to set the stage.” Salem said.

Salem was cool and composed, regal and imposing and strangely beautiful. Wait, beautiful? Ruby definitely didn’t think she was beautiful, where had that come from? Gotta be brave. Ruby tightened her focus on Salem again.

“For what?” General Ironwood asked. He looked scared, terrified even.

For a brief moment it looked like Salem’s right eye had twitched as she looked at Ironwood. Maybe she was more upset than she was letting on. Ruby’s eye was burning now but that wasn’t important.

“For me.” Salem answered, then turned and started to drift toward the general. “Time isn’t on your side James, it’s always been on mine. The people of Atlas have suffered enough. Surrender the staff and the lamp to me, and they needn’t suffer any further.”

“That’s _not_ going to happen.” Ironwood said, determination seemed to be coming back to him, which was good for them.

Salem’s eye had definitely twitched that time. She was leaning over Ironwood now, like an adult trying to talk to a child who didn’t understand. Ruby was feeling more and more uncomfortable with the way Salem spoke and moved, it made her insides feel weird.

“Simply accept the futility of your situation” Salem smiled softly at the general, “and this can _all_ be over.”

Ruby didn’t like the way she was smiling at Ironwood. It was time to be brave again. “We've seen what you're capable of. The lamp showed us.” Salem was moving now to take in Ruby again, which helped her continue on. “It showed us everything. We’ve seen that you can’t be killed. But we've also seen you fail.”

Salem's eye was twitching again, she looked unhappy and that made Ruby feel uncomfortable, but she was determined to get these words out before her eye watered up from this intense burning. There’s no place for crying in a heroic speech.

“We don’t have to kill you to stop you, and we _will_ stop you.” Ruby said.

Salem’s full attention was on Ruby now, her gaze imperious as she spoke, “Your mother said those words to me.”

Ruby’s eye was on fire now and suddenly memories of her mother were overwhelming her. There was a buzzing in her head that made it hard to think, hard to process what Salem was saying.

“My… mother?” The buzzing was a screeching now, like nails on a chalkboard. Tears welled up in her eyes. Her left eye was throbbing in pain now, a pain like she had never known before.

“She was wrong too.” Salem’s voice was tight and it sounded like her teeth were clenched now.

The tears poured from her eyes. She tried to use her hands to wipe the tears away or clutch at her eye that was in agony. She felt the now familiar pressure of her silver eyes trying to burst forth and protect, but the pain in her left eye seemed to be at war with them, stopping the light from fully building. For a moment she thought the pressure was gone and then suddenly it was back in force, light bursting forth to fill the room for the briefest moment before the agony in her left eye hit an all time high and cut off the light.

Ruby’s vision doubled and her balance faltered as she clutched at her head. Falling to her knees she was swiftly caught up by Yang’s ever warm embrace, cradling her from behind. The pain in her eye was gone, but the pain from Salem’s words was worse than ever. She sobbed into her sister’s lap.

The Ace ops were arguing about something, but she could hardly process the words they were saying. Had Salem really known her mom? What happened on her last mission? Questions filled her thoughts, questions she probably wouldn’t get an answer to. She thought she heard Weiss ask a question, then she felt Yang shift under her and she forced herself to focus on what was being said.

“I’ve sent your sister to claim the power of the Winter Maiden.” Ironwood was saying.

“What?” Weiss sounded shocked.

“When I realized we'd been compromised, I knew we couldn't wait any longer. The Staff and the Lamp _have_ to be locked away.”

Ruby pulled herself up to sit and wiped the tears from her eyes. It was still hard to get her eyes to focus. “I thought …you said we could keep it?”

“Well, that was before you lied to me about the Lamp. Before you lied to us about Robyn, before _Salem_ was right on our doorstep.” The general had turned around, his eyes wild with anger. “Before Mantle was nearly _destroyed_ , and myself and my army were left _exhausted_.

“Most importantly though, it was before your eye turned black and red.” Ironwood’s face showed open hatred, directed entirely at Ruby.

Ruby shot to her feet, her eyes widened in shock; one red with black sclera and the other her usual silver. Salem was her Soulmate.

“What?!” She cried out, her voice echoed by seven others.

Ruby turned to her team, panicking. To her team’s credit they mostly just stared at her new eye. The Ace Ops, however, had their hands on or ready to grab their weapons. Yang’s hands started to move forward to offer comfort, but stopped halfway, there was fear in her eyes. Blake was staring, eyes wide and ears flared out. Weiss though, Weiss looked hurt, like her heart was breaking.

“Y-yang? Blake? …Weiss?” Ruby’s voice squeaked out. How could Salem be her soulmate? She’s like a million years old and wants to destroy the world. Ruby doesn’t even like people in _that way_. Well, except maybe Weiss, and oh gods Weiss looks like she’s gonna cry. Ruby wanted to give her a hug but she was so scared and overwhelmed, herself.

It was Yang who spoke first, “Meeting your soulmate doesn’t change who you are.” she said, stepping forward and giving Ruby a hug. She smiled at Ruby as she pulled away and levelled her gaze on Ironwood. “I trust my sister and her judgement. She’s always known the right thing to do, for herself and for our team.”

Ruby smiled weakly at Yang. She wished she shared the confidence her sister seemed to have in her. This was so much more than she ever expected though. Things were suddenly much less black and white. She needed answers, from Salem of all people.

“What are our orders, sir?” Harriet’s question interrupted her thoughts.

“The timeline has changed, and so we must change accordingly.” Ironwood answered. The hatred and hostility had vanished, only determination remained in the man. “We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower …and apply it to the city of Atlas.”

“What?!” Ruby gaped at Ironwood. That would mean leaving the people of Mantle to the Grimm and Salem herself. Ruby didn’t think she was going to be getting those answers she wanted anytime soon. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Salem, Queen of the Grimm, Self Made Goddess, She Who Predates History, Mother of Darkness, Mistress of Death --was having a rough day. This was supposed to be the day she crushed Atlas and claimed the Staff of Creation for herself. This was supposed to be the day the world was reminded who their Goddess was. However, it would seem that some higher power had decided today must be more …complicated.

Certainly not the gods, they were long gone and would stay that way, if Salem had anything to say about it. Beyond that this soulmate business was a new thing, unique to the Humans and Faunus born without the gifts of the brother gods. Or so she had thought. She’d certainly never seen or heard of this phenomenon during her ‘first life’, as she thought of it. This switching an eye with someone and then falling madly in love with them was simply unheard of. Perhaps it was Fate.

When she had first learned of these ‘soulmates’, as the Humans and Faunus called them, she assumed it had nothing to do with her. After all, she had loved before, deeply and truly as anyone could, perhaps more than any other had. So the idea that she could have a soulmate was foolish. Her assumption had seemed correct as well, until now. She thought that after living for thousands of years, if there was a soulmate for her, surely she would have met them earlier.

Yet here she was, soulmate found in the form of one Ruby Rose. A child in comparison to her, and an idealist at that. Fate seemed to be mocking her. How on Remnant was she going to deal with this upheaval? One thing was certain, her plans must be changed.

Salem walked along the back of her Grimm Whale, or Monstro as she affectionately referred to it in her thoughts. As she walked she would idly caress any of her Grimm that walked or flew by her, it was soothing for her and helped her think. They were like pets, though far more loyal and useful than any mere dog or cat. Her thoughts were focused on this singular problem: Ruby Rose.

So Fate claimed she was to fall in love with this girl. Salem had her doubts. Still, the girl would have to be kept alive. There was a great deal of pain involved when one’s soulmate died, or so it was said. Normally pain was nothing to Salem. After hundreds of years trying to find a way to die, pain was something her mind simply pushed aside, a minor irritant that served her no purpose. The pain she had felt when she had laid eyes on Ruby Rose, however, was something she had never experienced before. It had felt like fire burning from her eye and into her very soul, it had taxed Salem’s considerable control near to the breaking point to keep her face schooled. It was said the pain of losing your soulmate was so far beyond that of the initial transfer that it could not adequately be described, there was simply nothing like it. So the girl would live.

She had made her way into the corridors magically hewn from the rock base which was holding the massive Gravity Dust crystals that allowed Monstro to fly. This was to be her stronghold and throne room for the siege of Atlas, and it was where she would find her _devoted_ followers.

“Hazel” She spoke, grabbing the attention of the mountain of a man and Cinder’s young disciples as well.

Emerald’s face had turned to open shock upon taking in her now Heterochromatic eyes, “Y-your eyes.” she gasped.

Salem narrowed her eyes at Emerald, her displeasure obvious. To her credit, the girl was able to control her emotions and dipped her head in subservience. Good, she was learning. She turned back to Hazel, who had remained stoic as ever.

“Your primary objective has changed. You are to find the Rose girl and bring her to me.”

“Ma’am” he acknowledged her order with a dip of his head. He had been suitably cowed after his disobedience in reporting the failure at Haven.

“And Hazel” she paused for him to look her in the eyes, “No permanent injuries, physical or mental.”

Hazel nodded slowly and walked out of her throne room, taking Cinder’s disciples with him.

* * *

BONUS SCENE

Salem paced along Monstro’s back, deep in thought. This soulmate business had her on edge in a way that she hadn’t experienced in centuries, so she had opted to try and calm down by spending time with her pets. A winged Beringel alighted on to Monstro’s back next to her and her frown lessened just the slightest bit. She caressed the face of the beast, enjoying the feel of it’s fine black hair. She remembered creating this one, it would do well in this siege and slay many of her enemies, she was sure of it.

From nowhere a pressure built behind her left eye and then her vision was pure white for a few brief moments. She felt her skin burning, though the pain itself was middling at best, not nearly enough to break her composure. Blinking spots from her eyes she grit her teeth at the sight before her.

The light had turned her Beringel to stone, and where there had been flocks of lesser grimm in the sky she now saw only the roiling darkness of the storm clouds that travelled with Monstro. It seemed Ruby had used the power of her eyes and it had emanated from Salem’s lone silver eye as well.

She sighed and took a step, only to trip and fall, flailing her arms comically in the least dignified moment of the last five centuries. She landed hard with a huff. Looking down at her feet she saw that where her feet met Monstro’s back there was crumbling stone, the remnants of where her feet had been petrified to Monstro.

She got to her feet and snarled, “Fates _damn_ this girl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, thanks so much for checking out my fic, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm hoping to continue this into a proper romance, however I'm really new to this whole writing thing, so it might take some time. Hope with me that I might be struck by the bolts of inspiration~


	2. Elderburn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of the fight with the Ace Ops and Ruby finding her soulmate, Weiss grapples with her emotions.

Weiss ran through the halls toward the Winter Maiden’s ...room? Cell? She wasn’t quite sure how to describe the domicile her sister had shown her. She tried to focus on where she was going, but thoughts from the meeting with Salem, and the fight with the Ace Ops that followed, plagued her. Ironwood had wanted them arrested, though Weiss strongly suspected it was _Ruby_ that he wanted in custody. Salem’s soulmate would make quite the bargaining chip and Weiss was determined to make sure her partner wouldn’t be used like that.

Ruby. 

Weiss’ heart still ached after learning that Ruby had found her soulmate. The fact that it was Salem wasn’t even the part that hurt the most. No, what hurt the most was that she hadn’t yet been able to muster the courage to confess her feelings for Ruby. Now she wasn’t sure she would ever get a chance to do so. Surely, after learning that her Soulmate was the Queen of the Grimm, Ruby would be in no state to hear a confession from her partner. 

Weiss realized they had made it to the observation room she had been taken to by Winter weeks ago. The glass had been blown out and thick ice was creeping over the edges of the wall that had previously served as a window. Stopping to take in the room beyond her heart stopped. Winter was lying on the floor, battered and bloody, she had never seen her sister in such terrible condition before.  
  
“Winter!” Weiss cried and consequently drew the attention of a murderous looking Cinder Fall. 

Cinder gasped as she took in the sight of Ruby coming into the room next to Weiss. She looked scared now as she ignited both her human and grimm hand with fire and took a fighting stance. Before anyone could take a step, however, the room was filled with light.

Blinding white light erupted from Ruby’s silver eye and then there was screaming. Pained screaming from Cinder that quickly faded as she fled, burning a hole in the ice wall to get away. More pained screaming, but this time from her side. Weiss’ heart dropped as she took in Ruby. 

Ruby had fallen to her knees and was clutching at her eyes, screaming in a way Weiss had never heard her scream before. After an eternity of just a few heart wrenching seconds her screams faded and she fell forward and braced herself with her hands. Her chest heaved rapidly, breath coming deep and fast. 

“Ruby, are you okay?” Weiss finally managed to say. Her hands hovered mere inches from Ruby. She ached to take her partner in her arms but didn’t have the courage to do so. 

“I-I’m okay. Check on Penny.” Ruby barely got out around her heavy breathing.

Weiss frowned at Ruby, she didn’t like leaving her after what just happened. The screaming of an airship began to fill the room. She turned back toward Penny, the Winter Maiden lying on the ground and Winter- wait, Winter!

“Guys! You’re- Winter!” Yang had arrived and was immediately sprinting toward Winter, her soulmate. 

Well, Yang could take care of Winter, Weiss would check on Penny, as Ruby had told her to do. She hopped down to the icy floor of the room and approached Penny. Her eyes were still aflame with bright green fire, though they were quickly extinguished as she turned around and dropped to her knees. The poor girl had taken hold of the now former Winter Maiden’s hand and looked on the verge of tears. Weiss set her hand on Penny’s shoulder, she hoped it would provide some comfort. 

“Penny?” She didn’t know what to ask her in this situation, she wasn’t very good with grief. 

Penny scrubbed at her eyes and twisted to look up at Weiss, “She’s ...gone.”

“No” Winter glared at Penny, voice filled with pain, “She’s a part of _you_ now.” 

“Hey, I doubt Penny was _trying_ to take the maiden’s power from you.” Yang chided. 

Winter grunted and winced in pain as she slid herself up into a sitting position. Yang tried to help her but Winter glared at her as well. “I suggest you all surrender, and comply with the General’s orders.”

Weiss’ eyes widened in shock. Yang was gaping next to Winter, flummoxed. Weiss looked to Ruby and her new eye.

“We can’t do that.” Weiss said sadly.

“Then …I suggest you run.” Winter looked the closest to crying she had ever seen her. 

“No, you’re hurt! I’m _not_ going to leave you like this.” Weiss cried out, hand raised to aid her sister. 

“What?!” Yang simultaneously gasped.

“You’re not leaving me!” Winter shouted brokenly, “I’m …giving _you_ a headstart…” Winter raised her hand to her ear piece, “This is Spe-”

“Mmm, nope.” Yang said simply, popping the p in that way only her family did. She had reached forward and pulled Winter’s hand off the ear piece, quickly pulling the offending piece of technology out. She tossed it to her prosthetic and crushed it with a small buzz and a crackle of breaking plastic.

“ _What_ are you doing?!” Winter nearly shouted at Yang. 

“Chill out Snowdrift,” Yang was smiling at Winter. “I know your duty is important to you, but so are the people who care about you, and we’re all right here. So-” she paused to pick a struggling Winter up into a bridal carry, “You’re coming with us.”

Winter glared at Yang, “Adding kidnapping to your charges ...then?” She groaned in pain.

“What’s a little kidnapping in the face of treason?” Yang shrugged. Leave it to Yang to bring humor into a dire situation. This was why they were friends, she supposed. 

The scraping of ice brought Weiss’ attention to Ruby, smoothly sliding down the ice on her feet. She appeared to have fully recovered and Weiss internally heaved a sigh of relief. She had that serious look on her face, the one that Weiss first fell for. It wasn’t the levity or nonchalance that she admired about Ruby, though she had come to appreciate them. No, it was her ability to focus, lead others, command respect and always know the right thing to do. Weiss’ lips quirked upward seeing her favorite side of Ruby. 

“We need to go.” Ruby stated simply, and just like that everyone moved to file into the airship waiting for them. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


The airship, a Manta class she now realized, was quiet. Yang was in the back, applying first aid to Winter amid her flurry of glares. Blake was standing off to the side, she looked uncomfortable as she gripped one arm with her other hand. Ren, Nora and Jaune looked decidedly morose, leaning against the cabin wall next to each other. Dr. Polendina was sitting in his quadrupedal chair near the closed door and Maria was up front piloting the ship away from Atlas.

Weiss herself was sitting on the bench next to Ruby, who was next to Penny. They were all reacting in their own way to the news that Oscar and the Relic of Knowledge were missing. Weiss and Penny were staring numbly, that is until Ruby linked her arms with both of them and pulled them to lean into her. Ruby was smiling reassuringly from one of them to the other and Weiss couldn’t help but smile back at the girl who unknowingly held her heart. 

“I don’t know how you do that, Ru-” Weiss started to say, but was interrupted by a call coming into all of their scrolls at once. She flicked open her scroll with her free hand and saw, “Oscar?” She answered the call. 

“H-hey guys” Oscar’s voice sounded throughout the cabin. 

“Oscar!” Nora cried in relief and excitement, earlier mood vanished, that’s Nora for you. 

“Oscar! Are you okay?” Jaune asked.

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m okay now. I could uh, use a ride though? I’m on the edge of Mantle near the crater.”

“Whaddya mean now?! And why are you in Mantle?!” Nora asked at the typical Nora decibel level. 

“We’re on our way.” Ren answered, looking to Maria to confirm she had adjusted their course.

The relief was plain in everyone’s demeanor and the tone of the airship shifted to hopeful. A short flight later and the intercom beeped as it was activated.

“This is your pilot speaking,” Maria’s voice was filled with mirth, “Due to these ruins on the edge of mantle being a hot fucking mess we’ll be unable to touchdown at our intended destination. I’ve found a clearing for us to land in between the last wall standing of a three story building and the crumbled foundation of what I can only hope was an SDC office building. Please exit the aircraft in a calm and orderly fashion, or don’t, I’m not your grandmother.”

The Manta touched down and the door slid open. Most of them followed Maria’s instructions, at least the calm part, orderly was not a word Weiss would ever use to describe her friends.

“Alright, Weiss and Blake, I want you to go pick up Oscar, RNJR, will make a perimeter around this clearing, there could be grimm coming any time now.” Ruby quickly and concisely doled out orders. 

“Actually, Nora, Ren and I would like to go get Oscar.” Jaune said, “We kinda owe him one.”

Ruby took a moment to look at the status of JNR and then nodded. “Okay, Weiss and Blake with me on the perimeter. Yang, keep an eye on Winter and the airship.” 

“I will engage in aerial reconnaissance.” Penny stated and shot up into the sky in a flash of green jets. 

Weiss took a look back into the airship toward her sister and caught Yang giving a nod of approval. Yang hadn’t moved from her spot next to Winter and had a hand resting on her soulmate’s uninjured shoulder. Winter was well bandaged now and looking slightly less upset with them all. Slightly. She offered her sister a warm smile before heading out to the edge of the clearing in the ruins. 

The ruins themselves had certainly seen better days. It looked like they hadn’t been used in years, probably overrun by grimm, seeing as this was outside of Mantle’s walled perimeter. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply of the cold, comforting, Solitas air. Atlas, and Mantle to some extent, would always be her home and thus brought comfort. She began looking for vantage points. It would be a good idea to have a high vantage point to spot any incoming trouble. 

Spotting what looked like a small building with an intact roof she made her way inside. It had all four walls, which was better than most of the ruined buildings she’d seen so far. She examined the front room carefully, hoping to find a stairway or some sort of roof access. There was no dust on the shelves of what looked like a small market, instead the inside was coated in ice and frost on nearly every surface. Giving up on the front room she walked into a new room, perhaps the back of the store, and saw a door with a faded stairway sign under some ice. 

The door itself was covered entirely with that thick layer of ice, so she drew Myrtenaster and switched to the fire dust chamber. The familiar whirr and click of the dust cylinder spinning and locking in felt good to hear in the quiet of the cold dead room. She cut an arc from what would be hip to shoulder on a human opponent and the wave of fire surged forward, swiftly melting the ice. 

The crunch of frost behind her was all the warning she had before a massive hand was wrapped around her neck. Eyes widening and adrenaline surging she immediately stabbed over her shoulder, feeling her blade sink deeply into flesh. 

What relief she may have felt at such a solid strike was immediately dashed as another hand grasped Myrtenaster by the dust cylinder and wrenched it from her grip. Panic filled her as she was disarmed and held by an unknown combatant who didn’t seem to feel pain. Wait, didn’t feel pain?

“You can scream if you’d like, I won’t hold your throat too tightly.” Hazel’s rough voice informed her from above and behind. “I would rather we did this without anyone getting hurt. Where is the girl in red?”

Weiss attempted to wiggle free from Hazel’s grip, but his hand simply didn’t budge. “Please, like I would tell you.” She spat.

“Very well.” He responded simply and began pulling her along with him, still holding her by the neck, though his grip was far from crushing and her aura was holding. 

Hazel dragged her out of the ruined market as she clawed at him and tried to reach for Myrtenaster. He had clipped her sword at his hip. His arms, however, were simply too long for her to reach where her weapon was being held. He seemed to easily be able to hold her in place at arm’s length.

Eventually they emerged from the little market store and walked out into the clearing. Yang was sitting on the edge of the Manta until she saw Hazel and Weiss. She immediately jumped to her feet and fired a flare from her gauntlets straight up into the air.

“What the hell?! Let her go before I pound you to pieces!” Yang shouted at Hazel.

“Yang, be careful, I think he’s here for Ruby.” Weiss called out.

Speak of the grimm and they shall emerge. A flurry of rose petals marked the arrival of Ruby. She thought she caught a look of pain in her now offputting eyes, but it quickly changed to cool determination. Ruby levelled her sniper rifle at Hazel, scythe blade biting into the ground. 

“Let. Her. Go. Hazel.” Ruby’s voice was cool and commanding, it sent shivers down Weiss’ spine. 

“ _Salem_ would like you to come with me.” Hazel replied. 

Ruby’s eyes blinked briefly, they looked uncertain for that brief moment. She really hoped Ruby wasn’t considering this. “And why should I do that?” Ruby asked. 

“You’re soulmates. She wants to meet you … _in person_.”

“So her plan was to hold my friend _hostage_ to get me to meet her?!” Ruby shouted indignantly. 

“ _My plan was_ a trade. I release the girl and you come with me.” Hazel answered. 

Ruby paused, then looked to Hazel’s side and shook her head. She seemed to be legitimately considering acquiescing to his demands. Weiss was more frustrated than ever before, she couldn’t seriously be considering this! It wasn’t safe, who knows what Salem really wanted her for. 

“Ruby, you can’t seriously be thinking about this, right? She could kill you the moment you get there!” Yang’s voice echoed her thoughts. 

“Blake, don’t, we can’t risk Weiss.” Ruby called out, looking to Hazel’s side once again. 

“You can’t trust these people, Ruby.” Blake said as she seemed to materialize from behind a small pile of rubble. 

Weiss blinked in awe at Blakes incredible stealth skills, she shouldn’t be surprised by now, but she still was. Weiss wasn’t sure what to say in this situation. Even if she was able to escape from Hazel’s grip, she wasn’t confident in their chances at taking down Hazel. The last time they had fought, at Haven, it had taken the combined efforts of every one of their friends to fight him to a stand still. With only the four of them and maybe Penny their odds didn’t look good. 

“Salem ordered me not to harm _you_.” He looked from Ruby to the rest of their team, “No one has to die today.”

Another long pause as Ruby looked from Hazel to Weiss, then she nodded. “Alright deal, so long as I can take Crescent Rose with me.” Ruby made a show of adjusting her aim on Hazel.

“Very well. You two get back on your ship and get ready to take off.” Hazel gestured to Blake and Yang, “ You stow your weapon and come to me and I’ll release the girl.” 

Ruby nodded and with a flourish she stowed Crescent Rose and started forward toward Hazel. This couldn’t be happening, she couldn’t lose Ruby like this, all because she messed up and got caught! Weiss glared at Hazel, but his face remained impassive. 

“Ruby, you can’t be serious!” Yang shouted. Blake set her hand on Yang’s shoulder, she was still facing toward the Manta and seemed to agree with Ruby, somehow. She was trying to urge Yang to move back onto the ship.

Ruby turned back to Yang, “I have to do this Yang. Not just for Weiss, either. I need answers and Salem is the only one who has them.” She touched her new eye briefly, “You heard what she said, she met Mom and probably knows what happened to her. I have to figure this out.”

“Ruby, you can’t- Summer is dead Ruby, there aren’t any other answers out there. She’s just going to kill you too!” Yang sputtered and cried, unshed tears at the corner of her eyes. 

“She’s my soulmate.” Ruby shrugged, “And it sounds like she doesn’t want to hurt me.”

Ruby finished her walk to Hazel’s side and nodded up at him. Hazel nodded back at her and released his hold on Weiss, gently pushing her forward, toward the ship and the rest of her team. Hazel handed her Myrtenaster but her eyes were fixed on Ruby, she could feel the tears in them, ready to fall. 

“Are- are you sure about this, Ruby?” She choked out. 

“Yeah, I am Weiss. Go get on the ship. I’ll try to stay in touch for as long as I can.”

Weiss sniffled and lunged forward to hold Ruby tight, “You better come back to me, you dolt.”

Ruby just nodded fervently into Weiss’ shoulder. As they parted there were tears in Ruby’s new mismatched eyes. In that moment, even with that eye of black and red, Ruby had never looked more beautiful to Weiss. Ruby smiled sadly at her and her heart felt like it shattered into a million pieces. 

Weiss ran back to the Manta and climbed inside. She beat her head against the side of the open door as tears flowed down her cheeks. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t lose her. They might not be soulmates but she still LOVED her. She hadn’t even been able to tell her how she felt and now she might not ever see her again. 

As the Manta began to lift off, Weiss made a decision. She turned to Winter, and offered her a sad smile, then turned to Yang and put a hand on her shoulder. Yang turned to look at her and her face softened.

“Yang. Take care of my sister, and I’ll do the same for yours.” 

“W-wait, what?” Yang stammered.

Weiss turned and jumped out of the Manta. 

It was only about a hundred feet to the ground so a handful of repulsion glyphs was all it took for her to leap safely back down to ground, right next to Ruby. 

“Weiss, what are you doing?!” Ruby screamed in panic.

“If you thought I would let you confront Salem alone then you’re an even bigger dunce than I ever thought.” Weiss' voice was still shaky from crying. She unclipped Myrtenaster from her belt and presented it, handle first, to Hazel. “You’re taking me with her.” 

Hazel narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on Ruby’s shoulder, “And why should I do that? Salem only wants the girl.” 

Weiss steeled herself, “Because, if you don’t take me as well then I’ll try to stop you. You’ll either have to hurt me, which I assure you will make Ruby an unwilling prisoner, or you will lose and you won’t get your prisoner at all.” Weiss kept her face calm and confident, channelling all the icy coldness her father had beaten into her from a young age. Inside she was a mess of nerves and emotions, Hazel was a frighteningly strong foe, if he chose to fight her things would get very messy. 

Hazel regarded her for a long moment before reaching out and taking Myrtenaster from her, “Very well.” 

As Hazel led them away Weiss finally turned to Ruby and her heart ached once more. Ruby was giving her a frustrated glare that she knew meant she didn’t like what Weiss had just done. Weiss wilted under her glare and stared at the ground so she didn’t have to see Ruby’s new eye.

“Weiss ...that was a terrible idea.” Ruby hissed.

“I told you, I couldn’t let you do this alone.” She replied softly, “Ruby, even if she’s your soulmate she’s still Salem, we all saw what she did from the Relic.”

Ruby’s voice started quiet but got louder as she spoke, “Yeah… but we also saw her live with a happy family for a while. I _don’t_ think she’s beyond redemption, Weiss.”

Weiss sighed heavily and shook her head. “Your endless hope that others can be as good as you might just get us killed this time.”

“Come on Weiss, at least we’ll die together!” Ruby chirped with a smile on her face. That damned smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have a second chapter! I can't really guarantee updates will come this frequently on the regular, but I'm really excited about this story now so I just couldn't stop myself from posting this right away!
> 
> I did a little edit of Ruby's eyes which you can see here: https://imgur.com/a/Pypctak


	3. Wilted Rose

For the second time in her life Ruby was flying on a grimm with her BFF, Weiss. Though were they really best friends when they rode the giant nevermore during initiation? Well they ended up as best friends forever, so anything before that still counts as best friend activities retroactively, right? Weiss would be proud of her for that word choice. 

This time around they were riding a Manticore, and this time around there was much less excitement and screaming; way less screaming, actually. Instead there was more of a sense of worry and determination, or at least that was most of the feeling. Weiss was riding behind her, arms wrapped around her waist in a way that definitely didn't give her tingles. She could feel Weiss pressed against her back and it was ...warm, really really warm. 

Ever since she became heterochromatic, Ruby was way more aware of the feelings she got whenever she touched Weiss. She had always been a very touchy feely kind of girl, quick to hug someone when excited or grab their shoulder to get their attention. Those touches hadn't really meant anything beyond just a way to show how she was feeling. She always felt things so strongly and words just weren't enough to show everything she was feeling. Touching Weiss was different now, though. Now when she touched her she got new feelings coming back to her, tingly warm feelings. 

She wasn’t gonna let weird tingly feelings distract her from what was going on though. Hazel had led them to two Manticore Grimm and told them to mount up. These two manticores seemed to be lacking in the spikes on their back, like the ones they had studied at Beacon and then later fought on the Argus Limited, maybe they were made to be used as mounts? The Manticore Hazel moved toward, and then climbed onto, seemed …scared of him. Meanwhile the one Ruby had led Weiss toward was almost affectionate with her, pushing back into her hand when she reached out to touch it’s side. More weird things that she couldn’t focus on right now. After a little bit of fussing from Weiss that she ‘could summon  _ much _ safer transportation, thank you very much’, followed by Hazel shooting that idea down, they had mounted up and were flying through the air toward Salem’s giant flying Whale Grimm.

The Whale Grimm was easily the biggest grimm she had ever seen, making even the Leviathan at Argus look reasonably sized. It had massive purple crystals coming out of different parts of its body, probably gravity dust to keep it floating, and it seemed to glow with an orange light from inside of its body. The grimm itself was floating in place inside of some sort of thunderstorm, except the clouds were black and purple, and the lightning that flashed every few seconds made them light up red. As they drew closer she was able to make out small dark shapes, hundreds of them swarming around the Whale Grimm, and the closer they got the more worried she became. They were all grimm. So many grimm. Teryx, Manticores, Sphinxes, and what looked like Beringels with wings attached to their gorilla-like forms. Salem’s army was massive and right on Atlas’ doorstep. The full effect was ominous, menacing …and terrifying. 

Ruby swallowed heavily and felt Weiss grip her waist a little bit tighter. She was really doing this, flying into the middle of the biggest swarm of grimm she had ever seen or heard of. An army that put the hordes seen at the fall of beacon to shame. Mantle and Atlas didn’t stand a chance against this many grimm, much less the massive Whale Grimm with it’s huge sharp teeth. She was the only thing that could possibly stop this from becoming another Fall. 

Still, even if she was the only one who could stop Salem right now, she was glad she didn’t have to be there alone. She had her partner to back her up. Even if fighting probably wouldn’t do them any good, it felt good to have Weiss with her. After all, she wasn’t just her partner, she was also her BFF. Together they could face anything, even Salem. 

The Manticore flew along a straight path to the top of the Whale Grimm and soon enough was landing on the top of it, near the base of the giant dust crystals. Now that they were closer she could see that there were a couple of doors in those crystals. She kept an eye on the doors as their likely destination while they dismounted from the Manticore upon landing. 

The back of the Whale Grimm felt kinda soft under her feet; it felt like really thick, soft grass, the kind that makes you wanna run and jump on it. As she offered her hand for Weiss to hold onto and get off of the grimm, said grimm was attempting to nuzzle her free hand. It was kind of …cute? She had grown up with a beowolf plushie as her bed buddy, but she never thought she’d have the chance to  _ pet a grimm. _ _   
_ _   
_ “He likes me! Hey Weissy!” She grinned at Weiss. 

Weiss had a look of concern as she watched Ruby petting the Manticore. She seemed to grimace and then roll her eyes as she turned to the crystals they seemed to be heading toward. Ruby thought she heard a faint “Dolt” from her partner, but wasn’t sure. She turned toward their destination and followed Hazel, who had already started walking there, seeming to expect them to follow him. 

Hazel pulled open the double doors and led them down a hallway. Gray stone walls were decorated with little alcoves where lit candles provided all the light for the passage. The floor had a soft red carpet, trimmed with black and gold, which led all the way down the hallway to another set of double doors. These doors were much larger and more grand, they had a symbol burned into their wood, a sort of grimm eye. 

Hazel once again opened the doors for them and walked into what could only be called a throne room. The room was wide, but still much longer than it was wide. The walls were once again covered in alcoves filled with candles, though it seemed a good portion of the light was coming from a huge round sky light of some sort. The red carpet continued on from the hallway straight down the room, leading to a throne which was raised a few steps and carved from what seemed to be massive grimm teeth. On the throne sat a woman in a very well fitted black and red gown with pale skin and eyes that mirrored Ruby’s own. 

“Ma’am.” Hazel said as he stepped to the side at the foot of the stairs. 

“Ruby Rose.” Salem called her name as she stood from her throne. 

Ruby found herself blinking in surprise for a moment as she got a good look at Salem’s face. The red veins that had been creeping up the sides of her face were gone. Her skin was once again a flawless unnaturally pale white, like they had seen in Jinn’s vision. Her eyes, of course, were what truly grabbed her attention; one eye red with black sclera, the other a dark silver that she had seen in the mirror her whole life. 

Salem’s gaze was ...regal. Every fiber of her oozed that of a dark queen who expected those around her to fall in line. From her gown that hugged her form yet pooled around her feet, to her hair that was tied up in a bun with spokes coming off the sides like a crown, Salem was a sight to behold. Ruby shivered as a wave of warmth travelled from her head to her toes. Salem’s presence in person was really something else. Ruby narrowed her eyes and steeled her nerves, it was time to be brave again.

“Salem.” She returned the greeting, her voice cold.

Salem paused to look at the large man to Ruby’s left, “Hazel, why have you brought Ms. Schnee with you? My orders were clear.”

“Ma’am, she insisted she come along as well, or else they would both fight back,” Hazel answered.

Salem hummed quietly in thought, “Very well, show her to the guest room.”

“Hold on!” Weiss interrupted loudly, “I’m here to make sure Ruby stays safe, I won’t leave her alone with  _ you _ .” Weiss reached forward and took Ruby’s hand. 

Ruby squeezed her hand tightly, drawing strength from Weiss’ support. She didn’t really want Weiss to go either, but more because she was worried that Weiss would get hurt. She was pretty sure that Salem wasn’t going to hurt her. The stories about the deep lifelong pain of those who had killed their soulmates were legendary; she didn’t think Salem was willing to put up with that for the rest of her very long life. 

Salem narrowed her eyes slightly, “She will not be harmed while she is here.” 

“As if we could trust you to tell the truth,” Weiss spat. 

“Yeah, and I’m not letting Weiss go somewhere alone either,” Ruby told Salem.

“What?” Weiss turned to Ruby in surprise. “Ruby I’m no-”

“Hm, a show of  _ good faith  _ then. Hazel,” Salem spoke over Weiss and nodded to the large man, who promptly detached Myrtenaster from his hip and held it out toward Weiss, handle first. 

Weiss looked from Myrtenaster to her, a question in her eyes,  _ Do you really want to do this?  _ It asked. Ruby bit her lips nervously but then nodded to her, Weiss would be okay. Weiss was one of the best Huntresses in Atlas, now with her weapon and a rested aura she could take care of herself. Well, as well as anyone could on Salem’s flag-grimm ...which was in the middle of the biggest swarm of grimm that had ever been recorded. Okay maybe they were being a little bit silly. 

“Deal,” Ruby called out clearly.

“Excellent. Hazel, if you would.” Salem raised a hand toward the only door other than the one they had come in from. 

Ruby tried to release Weiss’ hand, but Weiss just held on and yanked on her hand, spinning Ruby around and pulling her into a hug. Two hugs initiated by Weiss in one day, this had to be a record. Ruby held Weiss tight so she couldn’t see how red her cheeks felt. 

“Be safe, Ruby. Promise me you’ll be safe.” Weiss pleaded into her shoulder. 

“I’ll be as safe as I can be in Salem’s throne room in the middle of the largest army of grimm in the history of …ever, heheheh” she chuckled nervously.

“You are  _ such  _ a dolt.” Weiss whispered and then pulled away with a smile before turning to snatch Myrtenaster from Hazel.

Ruby turned to stare at Salem once again, but was more focused on listening to Weiss as she heard her clip Myrtenaster to her side. The sound of the door opening and then closing a moment later was the last sound in the room for several minutes. She was left alone in Salem’s throne room with her soulmate: Salem herself. The silence stretched on, but eventually Salem moved toward her, seeming to glide majestically down the stairs and across the floor. 

“Now then,” Salem finally spoke after stopping a few feet in front of her, “why have you come here?”

“I- what? You had Hazel kidnap me!” 

Red and silver eyes rolled dramatically, “Come now, we both know you didn’t come here against your will. Your  _ team _ has defeated Hazel before, you would have put up much more of a fight if you didn’t want to come here, so…  _ Why are you here _ ?”

A warm shiver went down her spine at Salem’s tone, but her eyes widened in surprise. She didn’t expect Salem to realize that part of her wanted to come here. “I…” she stammered and looked away from Salem, the floor would do. Nice normal stone with a red carpet over part of it; much safer to look at than the scary majestic tall woman. Would Salem really answer her questions if she asked? Well, there was only one way to find out. “I have questions … that I think only you can answer.” 

“Truly?” Salem quirked an eyebrow, “What questions could you have for me?” 

Ruby paused a moment to think about her questions. Of course she  _ wanted _ to know what happened to her mom, but that was just what she wanted; there were more important questions to ask, questions that could help with the war. Her wants could wait, and they weren’t  _ that  _ important anyway. 

She turned to look at Salem again, realizing that she had moved closer to her as Ruby now had to look up to lock eyes with her. Oh wow, she’s really tall and staring really intensely. Ruby looked down and away, trying really hard to ignore the very unwanted flush of her cheeks. She needed to focus, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

“Why?” she asked softly, “Why all this death? Why all the grimm?” Her voice was rising now, anger starting to show, “Why did you have all those Huntsmen in Mistral killed? Why did Beacon have to fall?” She turned to look her  _ soulmate  _ in the eyes, “Why did you kill my mom?!” She screamed as tears streamed down her cheeks. 

As she glared into the eyes that mirrored her own she saw something entirely unexpected: Salem’s composure breaking. She looked surprised and … _hurt?_ Wait, why would she feel hurt? Slowly a new question burned in her mind: Did Salem _…care_ about what Ruby thought of her? She knew Salem had cared about Ozpin, or ‘Ozma’ as he was called back then, so it wasn’t like she was some unfeeling monster; they had kids together after all. So maybe her hopes were right and Salem could learn to care about her?

“I did not kill your mother.” Salem said softly. 

“W-what…? Then who- what-” Ruby was immediately thrown through a loop that was then interrupted by Salem holding up her hand for silence and regaining her composure swiftly. She turned to look at the doors that Ruby had come in through. Ruby scrubbed her cheeks of tears and turned to the doors as she heard them opening with a great creak. Both doors were pushed open wide by a woman with a half cape and an eye patch, Cinder Fall. 

Cinder strode into the room looking confident and composed, apparently she had found a change of clothes because these ones weren’t torn up like Ruby had last seen her. Or maybe it was just the cape pulled over her burnt shoulder. It was easy to forget that they had fought with her just hours ago, it felt like so much longer. She finally seemed to notice Ruby and she immediately went into a combat stance, one hand aflame and the other ...holding the Relic of Knowledge!

“What is  _ she  _ doing here?!” Cinder demanded. 

“Cinder, how good of you to join us.” Salem replied coolly, “You have auspicious timing, and I see you’ve brought me the Relic of Knowledge, good girl.” 

Cinder stood frozen in place, her teeth were clenched in anger and her focus entirely on Ruby. Was this going to turn into a fight? Was she going to have to use her eyes- eye, again? The last time had been insanely painful, like the brief burst of light had been trying to burn the grimm-looking eye from her other socket. It had taken her several minutes just to recover well enough to see again. 

“Don’t mind the girl,  _ I  _ have everything well in hand.” Salem then held out her hand expectantly.

Cinder seemed to grimace before extinguishing the flame and slowly walking to Salem and placing the relic in her hand. She bowed her head slightly as she took a respectful step backwards. Ruby had never seen Cinder look so… restrained. 

“Oh Cinder…” Salem chided, “This game is not yours to win, It’s  _ mine.  _ All you need concern yourself with is your ability to  _ act  _ when I tell you to.” She took to inspecting the relic, seeming to barely pay any mind to Cinder, who was now shaking. “Now tell me, what have you learned during this penance?”    
  
“Without you I am nothing.” Cinder’s voice was empty, emotionless. 

“That’s right. Now run along until I call for you, I have matters of  _ import _ to discuss with this one.”

Ruby could see Cinder’s face twitch with rage before she once again dipped her head, briskly walking to the side door and leaving them alone. She could barely believe what she had just seen, how Salem had treated her: like she was  _ nothing.  _ She turned to Salem angrily. 

“Salem, what was that?! You can’t just treat people like that, even someone as bad as Cinder!” She waved her arms around to help show her frustration. “If we’re soulmates then that means we’re supposed to spend the rest of our lives together. If you want  _ this _ to work” she gestured angrily between herself and Salem, “then you can’t just do that to people!”

Salem blinked in …surprise? Then walked back toward her throne and sat in it with a sigh, her posture slumped. “The rest of  _ your _ life.” she stated morosely. 

“What?” Ruby was once again pulled from her anger into confusion by Salem’s drastic shift in demeanor. She slowly walked toward Salem’s throne, worried now. 

“We may be  _ fated  _ to be together, but it will only be for the rest of your life.” Salem seemed sad. She sat in a terrifying throne made of what seemed to be grimm parts, holding the Relic of Knowledge, yet at this moment she looked small and sad. “You know I was cursed with immortality, yes? I will live far longer than you can imagine, and your life will be but the  _ blink  _ of an eye to me.” 

“Salem…?” She couldn’t believe she was about to ask this, not of Salem, but if she didn’t then who would? Maybe this is why they were soulmates, “Are you …okay?”

The woman dressed in a black gown, commanding an army of grimm that were ready to descend on Atlas and Mantle looked up at her from her throne and simply closed her eyes in a brief grimace. Salem turned away from Ruby to stare blankly down the length of the room.    
  
“Your mother lives, Ruby Rose, and I can prove it to you.” 

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


For a room that was inside of a Whale Grimm it was certainly drafty. 

Weiss found herself in Salem’s 'guest room’ and was learning that the glowing whale shaped grimm didn’t produce much heat. Hazel had led her through a few corridors and then  _ down _ some stairs, which by her sense of direction should have been going  _ inside _ of the massive grimm they were riding on. The corridors she was then led through had a stone or perhaps grimm bone floor, but the walls and ceiling looked to be some sort of red material. It glowed and swirled in a way that made it look intangible, and she dared not touch it to check. Eventually they had reached a stone doorway in the walls of red that opened into an entirely stone room. 

Hazel had left her alone in the room with a simple instruction to not 'wander off'. She had inspected the door and found it to be unlocked, shockingly. Perhaps being with Ruby afforded her special accommodations. She wondered if Salem had planned for this or if she had told Hazel to treat her as more than a prisoner. Perhaps she slipped it into the conversation earlier. What was it she said ...take her to the ‘guest room’? Of course, that must be it. The alternative was likely something like ‘cell’ or ‘dungeon’. Still, despite being their better accommodations, the grimm bone themed furnishings and lack of windows left the room feeling drafty and unsettling. 

She moved to investigate the nightstand with a drawer in it when the sound of the door opening caught her attention. Turning to see who it was she immediately drew her weapon at the sight of Cinder Fall. The fallen maiden had a smug expression on her face as she silently took in Weiss, not making a move toward any sort of fighting stance. Then her eye twitched. Weiss narrowed her eyes at the woman across from her, then her right eye began to burn. 

Oh no, this couldn’t be happening. The burning in her eye swiftly grew more intense. Weiss was unable to stop herself from clutching at her eye and grimacing in pain. This wasn’t happening, she couldn’t have a soulmate, she loved Ruby! The pain grew to an intense burn and Weiss dropped to her knees.    
  
Across the room she heard the sound of glass shattering and looked toward her apparent soulmate. On hands and knees as well was  _ not _ Cinder Fall, it was a girl with pink and brown hair, the colors split to the left and right side of her head respectively: Neopolitan. Weiss recognized her from the brief glimpse she got of the girl when they fought Torchwick in that stolen Paladin and the descriptions she’d heard from Yang about their fight on the train. Weiss hadn’t seen her there, as she had stopped in the first train car to fight that White Fang Lieutenant with a chainsaw. 

The pain in her eye peaked and surged in what could only be described as ‘soul searing agony’. She couldn’t see anything as she dropped to her side on the floor, both hands clutching at her eye, but then in an instant the pain was just …gone. She couldn’t believe this, she didn’t even  _ want _ a soulmate if it couldn’t be Ruby. It wasn’t fair, having her fate decided for her, linked to a criminal such as Neopolitan. It wasn’t fair! Fate could fuck off. 

  
Eventually she managed to control her breathing and open her eyes, climbing up to a sitting position. She looked at her- her nothing, she looked at Neopolitan and glared into her now blue and brown eyes. The girl was standing again and looking from Weiss to the bowler cap in her hands, back and forth as her brown eye shifted between pink or white with each blink. She looked distraught, good, she  _ should _ feel distraught over this. However, the satisfaction from that was short lived, as she took one last look at the cap and then to Weiss and slowly a warm smile lit up her face. She looked happy and relieved in that way that Huntresses see often, like everything was okay now, that everything would be alright.    
  
Weiss felt far from alright. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh what a mess this all is for everyone. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading my fic! 
> 
> Comments and feedback fuel me, so I'd love to hear what you think!
> 
> I've made a gallery on Imgur that I'll be updating with edits to see what these characters look like with their new heterochromatic eyes, check it out here to see Salem and Ruby: https://imgur.com/gallery/I5YORtn


	4. Weiss Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neo and Weiss recover from their shock while Ruby makes a deal.

Weiss Schnee sat on the floor with her back to a grimm themed bed staring upwards blankly. Thoughts swirled through her head, recounting the day’s events in vivid detail. She and the girl whom she had been secretly in love with for the past two years, had found their soulmates, and it _wasn’t_ each other. Ruby, as it turned out, was the soulmate of Salem. The same woman who had the blood of countless innocent people on her hands and was trying to destroy the world. Now Weiss herself had found her soulmate in the form of known thief, and accomplice to the fall of beacon, Neopolitan. Truly this was the worst day of her life.   
  
She could see Neopolitan out of the corner of her eye, leaning against the wall, wearing an irritating smirk. Neither of them had spoken a word after recovering from the pain of exchanging their right eyes. Part of her wished the criminal would just _say something_ , however another part of her was thankful she hadn’t. It had been a scant few minutes since their meeting and she was just now starting to truly process what this all meant. Fate seemed determined that she wouldn’t end up with Ruby, as she desperately wished, however she was never fond of being told what to do. She would not allow herself to be beholden to anyone or anything, not her father, not the public and most certainly not fate. 

Movement from Neopolitan caught her attention as the diminutive girl moved from the wall and began inspecting the furnishings of the room. She moved with a sort of playful bounce to her steps with an undercurrent of smooth grace, like some sort of ballet dancer- an unhinged, deadly ballet dancer, she reminded herself. Deciding it was time to confront the girl, Weiss gathered herself and got to her feet.   
  
“So, _now_ what?” She asked sarcastically. 

The criminal turned from her inspection of the room to look at Weiss and take an exaggerated thinking pose, a finger tapping at her chin. After a moment of consideration she simply shrugged. 

Weiss rolled her eyes, “Fine then, I’m going for a walk.” 

She scowled as she turned and opened the door, a walk seemed like a good way to clear her head. The sound of footsteps following her out of the door, however, suggested she was not going to get a reprieve from the criminal’s presence. She turned her head to glare back at her ... _soulmate,_ who was following behind her and ...skipping. Skipping! How dare she make light of these events!

She had half a mind to yell at the girl, yet managed to keep her tone in check, “ _Why_ are you following me?” She asked, keeping her eyes forward as she continued to walk down the swirling red and black corridor. The silence from the other girl only served to irritate her further, the old Weiss would have snapped at her by now, but she had learned to keep her temper in check, of late. 

Neopolitan, it seemed, had no intent to answer her verbally, as she hopped in front of Weiss with an eyebrow raised; Weiss had to awkwardly stop mid stride to not run over the girl. She had a hip cocked to the side with one hand perched on it, and the other hand pointing to her lone, ice blue eye. 

“What, just because we’re ... _soulmates..._ ” she barely managed to say the word out loud, “just because of _that_ it doesn’t mean you have to follow me everywhere. Though perhaps it _should_ encourage you to actually speak. Giving someone the silent treatment is quite rude, you know.” 

Neopolitan’s face shifted to a glare as she crossed her arms. A moment later she angrily brought a hand up to point at her throat. Weiss stared at her in confusion briefly before the girl made an angry cutting motion next to her neck. 

What was this girl trying to say, her throat was dead? No, given the context perhaps she meant… “You ...can’t speak?”   
  
The other girl nodded and recrossed her arms, still clearly upset with Weiss. 

She felt terrible. She hadn’t meant to ridicule the girl for a disability, even if they were enemies. Even enemies still deserved basic respect and decency, Blake had taught her that during their many altercations with the White Fang. While at first she had simply moved Blake outside of the ‘White Fang’ category in her mental filing system, she had still continued to speak of and treat their enemies as less than people. Talks with Blake while they were alone in their dorm room had led to a slow education and realization that she was or had been raised as ...a racist. Looking back she was ashamed of how she had thought of the White Fang, and by extension the faunus as a whole. Now she made it a point to treat everyone with that basic respect of being a person, and here she had accidentally called Neopolitan out for something about her which she wasn’t in control of. 

“I’m ...sorry,” in her shame she glanced down briefly, “I didn’t mean to ridicule you for that, I just didn’t know.”

Neopolitan blinked in surprise before making a silent sigh while relaxing her pose. Her eyes closed for a long moment, followed by her putting her hand forward, seeming to offer a handshake. 

“You …want to start over?” She asked, unsure if she was reading the girl correctly. 

Neo nodded at her with what seemed to be a genuine smile on her face, it was kind of- kind of nothing. She squashed the thought and considered the offer here. Making peace with an enemy seemed like a good idea on paper, though she had no guarantee the girl wouldn’t continue to act like a criminal, not to mention her previous crimes. The Fall of Beacon and stealing the Relic of Knowledge were two very serious crimes, which she was hesitant to allow the other girl to move past. Still, what would Ruby do? The thought made her heart ache but she pushed it aside for now. Ruby seemed to have hopes to redeem or stop Salem in some way and what was making peace with Neopolitan compared to that?

She let out a small to relieve the tension and nodded, taking the smaller girl’s hand, “Weiss Schnee.” 

Neopolitan shook her hand up and down once and then let go to make a theatrical bow as some form of introduction. 

“And you are Neopolitan, correct?” 

The girl nodded with that smile on her face again, but then held up a finger as if there was some form of caveat. She placed her hands in the air, as if she were measuring distance, then moved one closer to the other. She was ...shortening the distance? No, shortening their introductions, their …names! Aha! 

“Your name has a shorter form? Wait, that’s right when we fought Torchwick in the Paladin he called you Neo, right?” She smiled, in satisfaction, she felt like she was getting the hang of interpreting this form of communication. 

Neo’s smile brightened for a moment then faltered at the mention of Torchwick, she nodded still, indicating Weiss was correct. 

Weiss’ own smile lost some of its luster, her training to read people’s reactions to what she said in a dynamic social situation kicking in. Neo seemed less happy at the mention of Tochwick, perhaps even sad? From what she had heard from Ruby he had died during The Fall, and if he and Neo were close then it may be a sensitive topic. Then there was the hat Neo wore, which she suspected was his hat, likely a token of remembrance. 

“A _pleasure_ to meet you, I’m sure.” She smiled, playful sarcasm dripping from her voice. 

It had the desired effect and Neo smirked back at her. The girl seemed to want them to get along, likely wanting to act on them being soulmates. She didn’t quite have the heart to crush her feelings by explaining that said heart was already taken, so she opted to simply try and treat her as a possible friend. Platonic soulmates existed, though society often frowned upon them, so perhaps that’s what this was.   
  
“Well, I’ve still had quite enough of sitting in that room. Do you know your way around here?” 

Neo simply shook her head.   
  
“Then I propose we get some exploring done, _if_ you’d like to join me.” 

Neo nodded with that warm smile once again and stepped to Weiss’ side, opening her parasol and resting it on her shoulder, twirling it slowly.   
  
Weiss nodded to her new companion and they set off. She felt good about her choice to follow her heart toward Ruby and not just leap into the arms of this cute girl at her side.   
  
Wait, _cute?_

* * *

  
  
“My mom is ...alive?” Ruby asked, once again in shock. Memories of her mother welled up in the back of her thoughts. Cookies baked on a warm sunny day, a white and red cloak fluttering in the sunset, warm arms and a soft voice singing her to sleep. The memories were gentler this time, not so overwhelming. Maybe cause her soulmate’s eye wasn’t welding itself to her soul. She looked down at Salem, still seated on her throne, she couldn’t really believe what she had just heard. She couldn’t give herself that hope ...could she?

“B-but my Dad said she’s dead… th-they were soulmates and he _said_ he felt her die.” There was an edge to her voice, part of her was angry. 

Salem turned to look up at her and raised a majestic eyebrow, “While I cannot speak for your father’s experience, I _can_ prove she is alive. I can _take_ you to her.”

She froze. “You, I- what- _where_?” 

Salem rose from her throne and was immediately back to her perfect composure. She regarded Ruby for a moment before replying, “ _Where_ is not the question you should ask, though I will tell you she is not here. Instead you should be asking, how?” She held the Relic of Knowledge forward and between them, looking at it and then back to Ruby, “I have questions for this lamp, however I lack the knowledge of how to ask them. If _you_ tell me everything you know of the lamp and how to use it, then _I_ will take you to your mother.” 

Ruby gulped and her eyes widened as she attempted to consider the offer. She could see her mom, she could find out where she’s been all this time and ...why she never came back. She grimaced at the thought.

She didn’t know for sure that her mom was alive, all she had was Salem’s word. And giving Salem full access to the lamp would be …there’s no telling what information _Salem_ would need and how many people it might hurt. But maybe there was a way. She had to be brave. 

“Two conditions.” She stated firmly, “First: You take me to her right away and bring your army with us, _away_ from Atlas and Mantle. Second: I need some sort of proof that she’s really alive, beyond just your word.” She stared down Salem. She could use this to help people, to _protect_ the people of Atlas and Mantle. 

Salem looked down at her in all of her majestic glory for a long moment. Ruby tried not to shudder at the wave of warmth that spread down her spine. Something about how Salem spoke and looked at her kept giving her that feeling. It was like a shiver of fear, but warm and oddly ...comforting. She didn’t want to think about what that feeling meant, not yet. 

“Very well,” Salem finally spoke, “Follow me and I will provide you with your proof. Once I have done so you will provide me with the information and we will leave to meet your mother.” 

Ruby nodded in acceptance of the terms, but Salem was already moving, seeming to know she would agree before she did. 

She figured she should follow like she said then and Salem led her through the side door and into a hallway. That hallway led into another and then down a spiral staircase. At each doorway Salem would just flick her hand lightly and the door would open for them. They went down multiple ‘floors’, though she was pretty sure they were going _inside_ of the Whale Grimm right now. The first hallways were just like the one they had taken to get to Salem’s throne room. The sides covered in alcoves with candles burning in them to light the way. She didn’t really like the silence of the walk though, so she decided to strike up a conversation. 

“So where are we going?” She asked in her usual chipper voice. She leaned forward and looked to her side and into Salem’s stately face. 

One of Salem’s eyebrows rose before she answered, “To find young Cinder. _She_ has the proof that you seek.” 

“Oh, um wow. All this time we’ve been fighting her and she knew and had proof that my mom was alive? If only I’d known…” She whined during the last part. 

Salem did _not_ continue the conversation, so of course Ruby spoke up once more.   
  
“So uh, what’s this big Whale Grimm called? I don’t think we’ve ever heard of or seen this species before, or anything even close to its size.” 

Salem didn’t respond right away but they had finally gotten to the bottom of the stairs and she led them down a hallway with the same floor, but weird swirling red and black walls, “I call him Monstro, and he is one of a kind.” She finally said, long after Ruby thought she wasn’t going to respond. 

“Aww, you have a cute name for him? That’s kinda cool.” She found herself smiling at her soulmate before a thought struck her, “Oh! I noticed that the grimm we rode on to get here was kind of …nice to me? It was almost like a pet, wanting pets and affection. Does that have something to do with my new eye?” 

The majestic queen stopped at that and levelled that intense, considering gaze at her again. There was that warm shiver again and this time she found herself squirming a little bit. She bit her lip and looked away from Salem self consciously. Wait, why was she self conscious with Salem? What the heck was happening? 

“Perhaps it does.” Salem finally answered before walking forward once again, leaving Ruby to pulse her semblance for a moment to catch up. “It seems that the magic associated with our eyes affects us both, in some way.” 

“Whoa, that’s kinda cool.” Ruby was kind of in awe of what this might mean, “Wait, magic? My eyes are magic? And wait, ‘both of us’ you said, how did it affect you then? Ohhhh, is that why you don’t have all those scary veins anymore?”

Salem looked at her and- did she smile for a second there? No way, must have just twitched. Salem didn’t really seem like the smiling type. Though she vaguely recalled a couple of smiles in Jinn’s vision, they had been beautiful. Maybe she could get her to smile again, she liked making other people happy; and the thought of making Salem happy made her feel a little giddy inside.

“Magic, yes. Your silver eyes seem to be some latent magic connected to the God of Light, though I don’t fully understand how they survived the purge of all magic in the human race.” They had reached the end of another long hallway and Salem once again flicked her hand and the doorway opened for them again. “Here we are.” 

The doorway opened into an immediate sort of, “T” intersection, but each direction had a stairway leading up and back the direction they had come. Ruby followed Salem up the stairway and onto what seemed like some sort of wide open area. It was like they were standing on an island of white stone or grimm-bone with big sorta stalagmites made out of more grimm-bo- Oh. They were teeth. Giant grimm teeth as tall or even taller than she was all around the edge of their little island. On the opposite side of the island from where they’d come up she saw Cinder, standing next to ...another throne. This one was a bit different than the last, with a red-orange glow to the back of it and sturdy armrests. There was also some sort of black and red goop climbing up the bottom of it, kind of like the walls of the hallways they had walked through. 

“Do you really have _two_ thrones?” She couldn’t help but ask Salem. The smile on her face and her raised eyebrow showing it was a bit of teasing and a bit of criticism. 

Salem, however, ignored her question and regally gestured toward Cinder, “Why don’t you ask Cinder how she knows your mother.” 

Ruby pouted for a moment as her question was ignored, but quickly remembered why they were here. She walked over to Cinder and Salem chose not to come with her. It seemed Cinder had heard them and had turned to glare at Ruby. She steeled herself and stopped just one Crescent Rose length away from Cinder. 

“What do you want, _Ruby?_ ” Cinder growled at her. 

She hadn’t expected Cinder to use her name like that, with so much emotion behind it. She couldn’t quite figure out what all it meant, but she got the feeling she didn’t like her. 

“I- uh. Um.” She cleared her throat and focused. Gotta be brave. “Salem told me you have proof that my mom is alive and we made a deal that I could see it.” 

“Did she now?” Cinder’s glare swiftly twisted into a smirk. “Well I _suppose_ it wouldn’t hurt to let you see your handiwork.” 

Wait, her what? Oh. She had wondered how Cinder had gotten the injuries on the left side of her body. It looked a little bit like a burn, peeking out around the edge of the eyepatch she wore. Now she had her answer, scars from when she used her silver eyes the first time on the top of Beacon Tower.

“Do you know why I cover the left side of my face, Ruby?” Cinder reached up with her grimm arm and slipped a clawed finger under the bottom of her eyepatch, tracing along the edge.   
  
Ruby couldn’t quite hold back a shudder at the sight. “B-because of the damage to your face? ...From when I used my silver eyes on you…” She felt strangely guilty. She shouldn’t feel guilty, she had seen Cinder _murder_ Pyrrha at the top of that tower! 

Cinder hummed and began to carefully remove the eyepatch, making sure not to disturb her hair any more than necessary. “Close. That _is_ why I wear this eye patch… However if you recall, I hid this side of my face with my hair, even when I was hiding right under your headmaster’s nose.” The eyepatch had been fully removed now, but her hair still covered a large amount of her face, including her eye. 

“So why then? What do you need to hide from everyone?” She had a bad feeling about this. 

Cinder didn’t answer her, she just brushed her hair back with that creepy grimm arm to reveal the mass of burned flesh over the left half of her face. Ruby gasped at the sight. It was especially bad around her eye, which looked nearly sealed shut. However Cinder reached up with her other hand to pull open her eyelid with a grimace of pain. 

The eye underneath all of that burned flesh ...was Silver. 

“What?!” Ruby screeched, “How is that even- _you’re_ my mom’s soulmate!?”

Cinder smirked and dropped her hands back to her sides, allowing her hair to hide the left side of her face again. “Quite,” she chuckled, “what do you think of that?” 

Ruby gaped at Cinder as her mind attempted to work through this information. How could her mom be soulmates with _Cinder_ ? Cinder was so evil and power hungry and ...and mean! Though she supposed she didn’t really have any room to talk. At least Salem wasn’t mean ...well except for that one time with Cinder. Okay maybe they both needed some work, and maybe that was why they were soulmates with her and her Mom.   
  
Ruby groaned in frustration as she turned and stomped back to Salem.   
  
“Her name is Jinn. If you say her name while you hold the relic she’ll be called out. She’s a tall naked blue lady and can only answer three questions every hundred years, there’s only one left. Time will stop around you when you call her.” Ruby rapidly explained everything about the lamp she could, she wanted to get this over with. “We asked her what Ozpin was hiding from us and it showed us your origins. Him rescuing you, your relationship, his death, your encounters with the gods and even humanity being wiped out.“ 

She took a moment to breath in deep and quickly as Salem tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, listening to every word she said, carefully.   
  
“It showed you jumping into the pools of grimm and coming out like ...this.” She gestured toward Salem’s form, with her pale skin and red and black eyes. She had intended to get this all out as quick as possible but like usual when she talked a lot she got a little ...sidetracked, “Jinn said that when that happened you had a desire for pure destruction ...but then _later_ she showed us that you were happy with Oz for a bit, you even had kids. So… I guess I don’t trust her exact words on everything.”

Ruby took a moment to look up at Salem, pleading with her eyes for Salem to say something about that. She didn’t realize how important this unspoken question was to her. She _needed_ to know the answer. She needed to know if there was any hope for her soulmate. 

However, Salem didn’t respond, instead choosing to walk to her throne and sit properly. “Cinder, retrieve your erstwhile disciples from their missions. We’ll be leaving as soon as they return.”

“ _What?_ But what about the staff? The power of the maiden?” Cinder seemed shocked by the order. 

Ruby made her way over to the throne and stood next to Salem. As Cinder seemed to be losing her temper she noticed something off with Salem. She wasn’t sure, but she got a feeling when she looked in her silver eye that she was about to do something very mean to Cinder. So Ruby steeled herself for one of the bravest things she’d ever done …and sat her hand on Salem’s shoulder. 

Salem paused just as she started to open her mouth to say something to Cinder, her expression was almost goofy with her mouth still slightly open as she turned to look at Ruby. Ruby put on her best stern face and squeezed Salem’s shoulder, shaking her head slightly.   
  
A long moment passed.   
  
Salem finally closed her mouth and then glared at Ruby’s hand on her shoulder, causing her to quickly remove it. Salem then seemed to relax her shoulders and turned to address Cinder again. 

“My primary goal has been accomplished here, go now.” 

Cinder blinked. 

Ruby blinked. 

Cinder huffed and turned on her heel, leaving Salem and Ruby alone. 

Ruby felt a slight swelling in her chest, it was that feeling of doing a good job. There was hope for her soulmate yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for checking this out~ 
> 
> I know my updates are all over the place without any rhyme or reason, so I'm trying a chapter with less of a cliffhanger feel to the end, let me know what you think in the comments! 
> 
> I've also added Weiss and Neo to an imgur album with all of the heterochromia edits for our soulmates. You can find that here: https://imgur.com/gallery/q8aF52v


	5. Red Queen

Monstro was huge, and walking around the Whale Grimm took some serious time. The stairs alone could be a good workout and here Ruby was walking back up the same stairway they had come down. After Cinder had left, Ruby had asked Salem if they could check up on Weiss. Salem had agreed with only a raised eyebrow to show her opinion of her request. So now they were climbing that long spiral stairway …again. She could feel her thighs starting to burn, so they had to be getting close to the top again, right?  
  
Sure enough at the next landing Salem led her down another hallway made up of swirling black and red, though this one had a few stone and wood doors toward the end of it. Salem stopped at the first one, which was also the only one with an open door. Looking inside she didn’t see any sign of Weiss, just a bunch of grimm themed furniture in a windowless room made of stone. 

“You really like your grimm furniture, huh?” She snarked. At Salem’s lack of response she continued, “So was Weiss supposed to be here or…?” 

“...She was. She was also to be given instructions _not_ to wander off.” Salem frowned and walked forward to stand in the middle of the room looking expectantly toward the door, but not at Ruby herself.  
  
That was weird, what would she be expecting?  
  
The answer came sooner than she thought. A sort of gross clicking sound that seemed to almost sway in her ears, even as it grew louder. The sound was coming from behind her, down the hallway they’d come from. She turned to look behind her and reflexively jumped back at the sight of one of those orb-like grimm with the gross red tentacles coming out of the bottom. Something about the way it floated toward her and those clicking noises it made were just _too_ unsettling, she didn’t trust it to be friendly like the Manticore. 

The grimm swayed and floated it’s way closer and closer to her. As it got within two Crescent Roses from her she couldn’t help but bring her hand to Crescent Rose herself. However, just as she was reaching toward the grip and release button the grimm stopped in front of the doorway. It paused for what felt like forever, then floated into the room. It didn’t turn to float inside, she noticed, so apparently it didn’t really have a front to it; somehow that made it all the more unsettling.

“You needn’t worry, girl, no grimm will harm you …unless I command it.” Salem said from within the room. 

Somehow the way Salem said that didn’t help with her worries, still she slowly took her hand off Crescent Rose and walked to the room. Peeking around the corner and into the room she could see Salem with her hands held over the grimm orb thingy. Both her hands and the grimm were glowing with some sort of energy …magic maybe? It was enough to draw her into the room to look at what exactly Salem was doing. Salem looked like she was focusing very intently, looking at the grimm closely- wait no, looking _into_ the grimm. She could see colors and shapes inside of the grimm, but wasn’t close enough to make out exactly what they were, she _had_ to know. So of course she did the only thing that any reasonable person would do in this situation and got right up next to the grimm, earlier feelings about it forgotten for the sake of her wild curiosity. 

Pushing her face right up next to the grimm, the swirling shapes and images inside of it took on a more distinct form. Two figures seemed to be fighting a horde of grimm. She noticed they were both extremely graceful and as she watched them dance around each other and the grimm they began to look familiar. Wait was that…? 

“Weiss?!” She shouted and stepped back, hand on Crescent Rose once again. “Where is she? I have to help her!”  
  
Salem waved one hand over the grimm dismissively and the images within it were replaced with a simple red glow. Salem gave her that regal, considering look, like she was weighing her worth. “Why do you worry for her so? Is she not a _talented_ Huntress? I would think she could handle a few grimm.“

“She’s my partner! I’m supposed to have her back, always.” 

“It seemed to me she already had someone watching her back. The two of them even seemed to work quite well together.” 

“...That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be there.” Ruby softened her gaze and pleaded, “Salem, _please._ ”

Salem continued to weigh her, but didn’t seem to come to any conclusion, she just glided past Ruby out the door and down the hallway. Ruby rushed to follow after her. 

“So where is she?” She asked. 

A moment passed before Salem answered. “The spawning pool.” 

Salem didn’t seem to like responding to questions, always seeming to wait before responding. Maybe it was because she didn’t want people to think they could rush her, or maybe she didn’t want to answer anyone’s questions. Oh, maybe she just needed time to put together her thoughts before she spoke? Ruby sometimes felt like she should do that instead of just saying the first thing that came to mind. That probably wasn’t it for Salem though, she was way too composed for _that_ sort of thing. 

Thoughts of Weiss fighting all those Grimm ran through her head, she had to stop herself from rushing ahead with her semblance. She didn’t know where the ‘spawning pool’ was, so she couldn’t just run ahead like she normally would. Still the thoughts kept coming back to her along with older memories of the last time she had failed to have her partner’s back. Weiss had almost died then and Ruby was not willing to let that happen _ever_ again. 

“Is it much further? Could we maybe pick up the pace?” She asked impatiently.

She caught Salem narrowing her eyes as she looked down at her for a moment, “It’s not far now.” 

Ruby couldn’t stop a small groan of frustration, but continued to walk beside Salem. She could almost count each step they took with how slowly it felt like they were going. After an eternity of walking down those grimm-bone corridors they reached _another_ spiral staircase, which Salem led her up and then through one last corridor. She stopped at the door and nodded to Ruby, this was the last door, she understood. 

Rushing forward she shoved the door open and saw carnage. The door opened to a room with an open ceiling, flying grimm could be seen swooping down from the swirling red and black sky, only to land and attack the two women fighting in the room. Weiss and a girl with a parasol- Neo, she realized from her distinct weapon, were at least thirty crescent roses away from her and _surrounded_ by grimm. Teryx, Manticores, those Beringels with wings and even a sphinx were leaping in to strike at Weiss or Neo, only to be swiftly beaten back with a parasol or cut in half by Weiss’ Arma Gigas. Even if Weiss was holding on for now, there were just so many grimm. 

There were too many grimm, she’d have to use her eyes- eye, for this. Remembering that she only had one silver eye now also reminded her of the last time she used it and the pain it had caused her, maybe that wasn’t the best idea. But then how was she going to- wait! 

She turned to Salem, “You have to stop them! Salem... _please_.”

Salem looked from her to the grimm, no emotion on her face or rush to help. 

Frustration with Salem quickly turned to the start of anger. How could she just _stand_ there? 

“Salem!” She cried. 

Salem slowly looked down at her and stared for a long moment. The sound of grimm dying and Weiss’ cries of exertion filled the air and Ruby’s anxiety hit an all time high. Maybe she should have just rushed in to help as she could with Crescent Rose, maybe she should just risk it with her silver eye. She had to try one more time to get through to Salem. 

“Please… why won’t you help them?” 

“Why don’t you?” Salem asked. 

“I ...I don’t know if I can stop that many grimm, I think _you’re_ our best hope.” 

“And why don’t you simply use your eye?” 

“I don’t know if it will even work right and last time I used it it hurt really bad and it didn’t even seem to hurt Cinder much, it just scared her off. I don’t-”

Salem rolled her eyes- rolled her eyes! “Your _other_ eye.” Salem said and Ruby’s eyes widened. “That eye, _my_ eye has bestowed upon you a link to the creatures of grimm. You can use that link to control them.” 

“Wha- how do I do _that_?” 

“The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet, is _fear._ ” Salem gestured to Weiss and Neo, “Go to them and focus on the grimm. Make. Them. _Fear you_.” 

Fear. She had to make them fear her. She could do that. To protect Weiss she would do _anything_ that needed to be done. She nodded to Salem and drew Crescent Rose. It was time to be brave. 

With a running jump and a shot from Crescent Rose she launched herself forward and into a Death Spin™, neatly cutting through a manticore’s spine while fully severing its hindquarters. Not bothering to watch it’s body fade to ash she landed on the ground and immediately made an aura enhanced leap to another manticore’s back before pulsing her semblance long and hard to get to Weiss’ side.  
  
Describing the feel of her semblance was hard. It wasn’t like she just ran really fast. For a moment her body didn’t really exist. Instead she was just a speeding consciousness trailing rose petals and moving at nearly the speed of thought. Using her semblance for a long time like this and pulsing it strongly enough to be able to move _through_ things was a big drain. She and Harriet had trained her endurance with it, but it was still exhausting. So when she stopped next to Weiss she found herself doubled over and gasping for breath. 

“Ruby!” Weiss cried as she turned to look at her, concern in her blue and pink eyes.  
  
Wait, pink? Weiss’ had two glittering sky blue eyes- though the pink eye _did_ offset the blue in a really pretty way. The sound of a grimm battering against one of Weiss’ repulsion glyphs from behind jolted her from her thoughts. She had to focus. She had to protect Weiss, she wouldn’t let her get hurt again, she wouldn’t let her die!  
  
A pressure started in her right eye accompanied by a burning in her left eye. Crap crap crap, not that! She needed to focus on fear, not protection. She had to make them _fear her._

Standing up straight, she planted the butt of Crescent Rose in the ground and glared at all the grimm around her. She tried to look mean and menacing but it didn’t seem to be working. There was probably something else she needed to do, an emotion maybe? How could she make the grimm fear her?  
  
Movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and saw a sphinx start to lean forward, about to strike with it’s tail at Weiss, who was still looking at Ruby with concern. Not today. She sprinted toward the sphinx and as it finished ducking it’s head down she jumped and vaulted off of it’s armored skull, leaping straight up and swinging Crescent Rose for all she was worth. The upward swing did exactly what she hoped, severing the tail of the sphinx that it just lashed forward at Weiss with.  
  
She landed in front of the sphinx and glared at it once again. How dare it try to kill Weiss while she was distracted? How. _Dare_ . It. Righteous anger filled her and she swung Crescent Rose once more, this time right in front of her. Her scythe scraped across the sphinxes armored head but it had the desired effect, grabbing it’s full attention.  
  
“No! Bad.” She said to the sphinx and she felt a tingling in her left eye. The sphinx looked her in the eyes for a moment then slowly knelt down and cowered. It was working! She turned from the sphinx and swept her eyes across all of the grimm around them, taking in Weiss and Neo standing right next to her as well. As she glared at each grimm and maintained that tingling in her eye with that feeling of anger, each and every grimm she saw stopped what it was doing and either turned to run away or cowered before her. “You don’t hurt them!” She pointed at Weiss and Neo, “ _Got it_?” 

The cowering grimm slowly backed away from them and either took flight or walked a good hundred Crescent Roses away before starting to just … hang out. It was like they didn’t even notice the humans were there any more, as long as they were far enough away. 

“Ruby …how did you do that?” Weiss asked, in awe, with a bit of concern. 

Ruby let go of her glare and her anger before turning to Weiss, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly, “I uh, guess it came with the eye? Salem told me how to do it…” 

“Salem?” Weiss looked around for a moment before seeing Salem in the doorway, gazing at them regally. 

“I couldn’t think of a better way to protect you so I …asked her to help.” She said. 

Weiss had that look on her face as she looked at Salem, the one that meant she was sizing someone up. Ruby wasn’t a big fan of that look, but Weiss’ ability to read people had helped them in the past. She couldn’t help but look at Weiss’ new eye before catching sight of the pink and brown hair of Neo standing next to her. Neo sporting one brown eye and one ice blue.  
  


“Weiss… you found your soulmate!” She smiled at Weiss. Something inside of her twisted, but she pushed that aside, her BFF had found her soulmate, _of course_ she was happy for her. 

Weiss turned to look at her and she looked …guilty. “Ruby, I-” she sighed and closed her eyes, “Yes, I suppose I have…” 

When Weiss opened her eyes again they were blue and brown and so… _so_ sad. 

To Weiss’ side Neo was looking from Weiss to Ruby in obvious confusion. With each blink her left eye would switch between brown and pink in tandem with Weiss’ right eye, but always the opposite color. She stepped forward and caught Weiss’ attention, then did some sort of motion between Ruby and Weiss followed by a look Ruby didn’t quite catch.

“Oh, Neo, you’ve met my partner and _friend_ Ruby, haven’t you?” Weiss asked by way of introduction. 

Ruby smiled and wrapped her arm around Weiss’ shoulder “Yeah, we’re BFF’s!” She felt Weiss sag a little bit under her, she must be tired from the fighting. 

Neo pursed her lips before cocking her hip and giving Ruby an annoyed look.

Neo’s movement caused her hat to shift a bit and catch her attention. That hat, was that Torchwick’s hat? Oh no… suddenly Ruby felt awful. 

“Neo…” She had to say something, “I-I’m sorry I couldn’t save Torchwick. After I launched you off that airship we fought and …honestly he was winning. He got angry though … _so_ angry. This huge gryphon landed behind him and I couldn’t …I couldn’t save him.” 

Ruby stared at her feet for a long time. If Neo was wearing Torchwick’s hat then they had probably been close. Neo had lost someone she cared about during The Fall as well. Even if Neo and Torchwick had helped with causing The Fall, she didn’t want to see anyone die, not for any reason. 

The sound of sniffling drew her attention back up to Neo. The small girl had tears streaming down her face and had pulled her hat down low on her head. Neo looked up from the ground as well and glared at her for a moment jerking her head toward Weiss. 

Weiss had her hands held out like she wanted to comfort someone, but she wasn’t quite facing just Neo or Ruby. She looked from Neo to Ruby and back again, still looked so sad. Seeing her look so sad made something inside of Ruby’s chest hurt, she hated when Weiss was sad. 

Neo’s look softened and turned to a sad determination. She looked back at Ruby and pointed at her. Slowly her outstretched hand changed to an open hand then it seemed to make a shooing motion? Then she looked down at the ground sadly once again. 

Ruby couldn’t quite make sense of it and looked to Weiss in confusion. 

“I ...think she’s saying it’s not your fault, Ruby.” 

“Really…?” 

Neo looked up from the ground and gave her a soft sad nod, then sniffled once more while wrapping her arms around herself.

Ruby still felt like it was her fault, but she didn’t try to argue about it. Neo was obviously in enough pain just from being reminded about what happened, so maybe it would be best to leave it alone. 

“Ruby, what happened with Salem?” Weiss asked. 

She grimaced at the thought of what she’d learned from Salem. Her feelings about her mom’s …disappearance were complicated. She was really young when it happened, so young that she could hardly remember her mom. Yang would always tell her the best stories about her though, like she was the greatest mom ever. She did remember the smell of her mom baking cookies, kind silver and blue eyes, and warm safe hugs. Still, a part of her was angry. Angry that she didn’t grow up with a mom, angry her mom didn’t come back from that mission. She knew it wasn’t fair to blame her mom but it’s still how she _felt_. Now if her mom really was alive …new questions began to filter into her thoughts. She pushed those questions aside for now when she realized she hadn’t answered Weiss. 

“She said my mom is alive…”

“What?” Weiss looked dumbstruck, apparently she wasn’t expecting that. 

“Y-yeah… She’s gonna take me to her and take all of her grimm with her.” Ruby tried to plead with Weiss using her eyes, pleading for her not to ask anymore questions. 

“She what? Why would she do that?” 

“Well Cinder came back and gave her the lamp and then…” She cringed, “Itoldherhowtousethelamp.” She continued to cringe, eyes closed to not see Weiss’ reaction. 

“Ruby you- you what?!” Weiss sounded shocked, “Why would you do that?! We can’t even begin to imagine what she would do with the lamp! I _know_ Ozpin lied to us about a lot of things but Salem having a relic and being able to use it can’t be good, that’s just common sense.” 

Ruby turned to look at Weiss and shrunk down at the look of disapproval Weiss was giving her. “It was the only thing I could think of to get her to leave Atlas and Mantle alone and it was my only bargaining chip.” She poked her index fingers together awkwardly, “And besides, what information could she possibly need from the relic that would be so bad?” 

The sound of a stately scoff pulled her attention to Salem herself, gliding toward them. 

“What information indeed.” Salem mused, “We will be leaving soon, make yourselves ready.” She turned to leave.

“Wait, where exactly are we going?” Ruby asked. She did have things to do before they left and she needed to know where they were going, for them. 

Salem paused and looked over her shoulder with a sinister quirk of her lips, “The Grimmlands of course.” She answered before walking off alone. 

Ruby turned to look at Weiss, feeling a little scared. Weiss was looking from her to Neo, which brought Ruby’s attention to Neo as well, all three of them were scared at the idea of going to the Grimmlands. 

The Grimmlands were a continent to the north of Sanus and they were entirely overrun by Grimm. Nothing grew there except in a few small spots on certain coasts. Every attempt to settle the continent, or even explore it, was met with disaster. There were just so many grimm there, and to top it off they were even stronger and older than normal grimm. No one went to the Grimmlands, _ever_. Going there was practically a death sentence. 

She swallowed hard and looked at Weiss, “You should go back to the rest of the team.” 

Weiss scoffed, “You really are a bigger dolt than I ever thought possible… I told you I’m not leaving you alone,” her eyes flicked to Neo for a second, “no matter what.” 

Ruby sighed internally, Weiss could be so stubborn, “Alright then, we need to make a call.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Yang, we can’t just fly into an army of grimm like that without a plan.” Blake attempted to reason with her for at least the fifth time.

“We can’t just leave them up there with _Salem_ !” She had been trying to make this point for the last hour, ever since Ruby and Weiss had been taken by Hazel. Her big sister instincts were screaming at her to get up there and bring Ruby and Weiss back. She honestly couldn’t understand how Ruby could trust Hazel to honor his word and not harm her. All of this because _somehow_ Salem knew exactly which button to press to exploit Ruby: Summer Rose, her mom. Summer had been an amazing mom to both of them, but she was dead and gone. While Yang had moved on from her death, Ruby had never really gotten over or moved on from it, even if she hid it well. So now she had let herself be taken captive and brought to _Salem_ , just on the off chance the most evil lady on Remnant would know what happened to her on the mission she died. 

“You said it yourself, Ruby chose to go up there. We should trust her decision on this and follow her lead.” Jaune chimed in. 

“Also those grimm haven’t moved since she got up there, so whatever she’s doing is helping Atlas and Mantle.” Maria called back from the cockpit. 

Yang groaned in frustration and walked to the back of the Manta to get away from everyone refusing to listen to sense. The only person in the far back was Winter, still pretty beat up, but at least she had stopped arguing with them about ‘kidnapping’ her. She sat down on the bench next to her soulmate in a huff. 

Minutes passed as the rest of the group discussed what they should do. Eventually she felt a hand on her forearm- Winter, causing her to look up at the older woman. Her earlier frustration was gone and now she just looked worried. 

“Yang. I’m worried about them too.” 

Yang grimaced but nodded and set her left hand on top of Winter’s, enjoying the feel of their skin together. Their first meeting had been quite the shock, for everyone around, and there were quite a few people. They’d met outside of Ironwood’s office and as soon as she looked at Winter she’d felt that burning in her right eye and immediately knew what it meant. She never expected to land a catch like Weiss’ big sister. She was gorgeous, composed, and incredibly talented; she really was better than Yang deserved. She quickly learned that Winter was even more of a stickler for rules and protocol than Weiss had ever been, she’d had her work cut out for her to get her to loosen up. 

In the end they had meshed really well, like most soulmates do, covering each other's weaknesses and bringing out their strengths. Turned out Winter really did need someone to help her relax and care less about what people expected from her. Meanwhile Yang benefited from the structure and discipline that Winter lived her life by. Who knew getting a consistent eight hours of sleep and eating three square meals could make such a difference in dealing with her depression? Sure she’d learned to fake it for a while now, but it wasn’t until she met Winter that she really started to _feel_ better. 

To top it off, Winter was a really good fighter and more than happy to spar with Yang whenever she wanted. Yang of course wanted to spar very often, completely unrelated to how good Winter looked while they were fighting. She brought out this ruthless efficiency and ferocity when she fought that just _really_ did things for her. Yang just really liked to fight though, that was the only reason, honest. 

A buzzing from her scroll jerked her out of her thoughts, who was calling her? She grabbed her scroll and hit the button to answer and there was her little sister, unsettling eyes and all. 

“Ruby! Are you okay?” Just like that she was amped up again. Everyone else in the manta heard her and had turned to look at her. She held up a finger to hold them back, there was probably a reason Ruby had just called her, instead of all of them. 

“Hey Yang.” Ruby smiled weakly at her, “I’m fine, so is Weiss, Salem has kept her word and we haven’t been harmed, so don’t worry so much.” 

She thought she heard a small Weiss huff, but wasn’t sure, “Oh, thank fuck.” She heaved a sigh of relief. 

Ruby did that thing where she inhaled deeply before doing or saying something big, “Yang, there’s something you need to know…” 

“What, you’re not telling me she actually knew something did she? Ruby you can’t trust her.” 

“Yang come on, this is important. Salem said… she said mom is still alive.” 

What. 

“Ruby no, there’s no way. Dad felt her die, she can’t be alive.” Yang shook her head and tried to keep out the thoughts that came with the idea of Summer Rose still being alive. 

“I …think she’s telling the truth. I met her soulmate, Yang.” Ruby looked like she was on the verge of breaking down and Yang desperately wanted to give her a big sister hug. 

“What?” Her mind was processing, those thoughts were creeping into her head. 

“It’s Cinder. It’s why she always covered her left eye.” Ruby paused to breathe in deeply, “I have to figure out what’s going on, Yang. Salem is going to take me to see her and I convinced her to withdraw all of the grimm from Mantle and Atlas when we leave.” 

Yang’s mind had managed to process things now. If Summer was still alive did that mean she had left her too? Of course she’d left her, everyone leaves her, after all. Anger and frustration simmered to cover up other feelings. She didn’t say anything, _couldn’t_ say anything, not just yet. 

Winter saved her from having to respond with a question, “Ruby, could you put my sister on the line?”

“Oh! Winter! I didn’t realize you were there, yeah one sec-” 

Winter put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. That’s right, she had Winter at least, Winter wouldn’t leave her, they were soulmates after all. And Blake had promised she wouldn’t leave, really _promised._ She adjusted the scroll so it got both her and Winter in frame. 

“Weiss come here, Winter wants to talk to you. Wha- hey!” 

The image on the scroll shook for a moment as something happened to how it was being held. Then Weiss peeked onto the edge of the screen, she seemed to be avoiding crowding Ruby out of the frame. 

“Winter, I’m pleased to see you’re looking somewhat better, sister.” Weiss immediately snarked. 

Winter’s grip tightened briefly on her shoulder, “Weiss. How are you doing up there?” 

Weiss seemed to roll her eyes, or at least the one they could see, “I’m ...doing well, considering the circumstances.” 

“And are you joining your leader on this trip with _Salem_ , to meet her mother?”

“Of course. Someone has to look out for her.” 

“You know that’s not wise.” 

“I am _well_ aware, thank you. However, it’s become very apparent to me recently that I must carve my own path, and that means going with _this_ dolt.” Weiss smiled fondly as her eye flicked over to Ruby. Still harboring that crush for her, Yang could see. 

“Very well then. Miss Rose, please look out for my sister.” Winter’s tone was proper, but there was a warmth to it that wouldn’t have been there if this was the Winter from when they first met. 

“You got it, Winter!” Ruby responded with one of her smiles, seemingly from nowhere, “You okay Yang?” 

Yang put on her blank face before responding, “Yeah Rubes, I’m fine.” She would be fine, eventually. Maybe once they had answers. She still wasn’t sure Summer was alive, but if Ruby was this set on it …well there was a reason Ruby was their leader, she always seemed to know the best thing to do. 

Ruby hummed in thought for a second, “Alright, if you say so. Winter, keep an eye on Yang. Now could you guys bring everyone else into the call? There’s something I need to tell everyone.” 

Yang nodded and pressed a few buttons on the hardlight screen to add everyone else to the call with Ruby and Weiss. 

Before anyone could say anything Ruby spoke up, “Hey everyone, sorry if we freaked you out but we’re fine, I promise.” Ruby had her stern leader face on as she went on, “Weiss and I are gonna be away for a little while, but we managed to convince Salem to withdraw her forces from Atlas and Mantle. I know that _sounds_ great, but there are still some real dangers.” 

“Just tell us what you need us to do, Ruby.” Jaune said. 

Ruby nodded, “Alright, Ironwood is probably still going to try and raise Atlas into low orbit, to do that they’ll need Penny, to access the Relic. So you all need to lay low and make sure Ironwood can’t go through with that plan. 

“Your best bet is probably down in Mantle, but I won’t be there to be sure, so do what you guys think is right. Wait, has anyone heard from Qrow?” 

“Qrow Branwen and Robyn Hill were arrested ...for the murder of Clover Ebi.” Winter answered like she was reading the arrest report, “Tyrian Callows also escaped custody during the chaos.” 

“Shit, there’s gotta be more to it than that, Qrow would never murder Clover. Okay new mission: Rescue Qrow, then lay low. Above all else though, keep Penny safe”

“Ruby, I am more than capable of defending myself.” Penny chimed in. 

“Ruby, did you just curse?!” They simultaneously heard Weiss screech through the scroll.  
  
Yang snickered, it wasn’t the first time she had heard Ruby curse, but it was an extremely rare occasion.

“My Uncle was just arrested for murder, give me a break!” Ruby was pushing Weiss away while Weiss was trying to get up in her face to scold her. After pushing Weiss out of the frame by her face she turned back to the screen, “Penny, I know you can take care of yourself, but you’re the lynchpin to everything now …I’m sorry to put all this pressure on you.” Ruby looked very sad at the end. 

Penny seemed to deflate, “...I understand, friend Ruby.” 

“Alright everyone, make it happen. Keep each other safe out there. We’ll be back as soon as we can.” 

Sounds of acceptance filled the air and the call ended. 

“Did anyone else notice Weiss' eye was pink there at the end?” Nora asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's a rough day for the US so I hope this chapter brought a little bit of fun to your day. 
> 
> I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year for the first time and I'm gonna just continue Heterochromance for it. For now this won't change much, but at the end of the month it's very possible you'll see an increase in update speed once I get it all written out and finish editing everything that's unpublished in the mean time. Updates will still continue roughly once a week, for now. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, comments fuel my drive. 
> 
> No new soulmates recently, so this album of our Heterochromatic soulmates revealed thus far is still accurate: https://imgur.com/gallery/q8aF52v


	6. Ice Flower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby, Weiss and Neo get something to eat. 
> 
> Salem and Ruby get better acquainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that there is a section of this chapter that deserves a bit of a content warning for depressive thoughts and suicidal ideation. There is a notice immediately before that content warning goes into effect.
> 
> Additionally there is a minor spoiler for Episode 1 of Volume 8. Just a visual descriptor.

Meals on Salem’s flying-whale-grimm-made-mobile-stronghold were ...awkward. After the scroll call to the rest of her team Ruby had taken it upon herself to figure out what they were going to do for their basic needs for this trip. The first item on the list was food, so she had led Weiss and Neo back through the hallways as best she could until they stumbled on Hazel. Hazel had been nice enough to tell them about the kitchen and even give them directions. He’d also mentioned that they could stay in any of the rooms in that hallway where she and Salem had looked for Weiss. Now, however, they were sitting at the weirdest dinner table after making some easy food. 

The table itself was just a bit over one Crescent Rose lengths and made out of that purple crystal that she now knew was definitely not gravity dust. It was shaped kind of like a really young kid’s idea of a rectangular table, roughly four corners with two parallel sides longer than the other two. However, each of those lines was far from straight, kinda bowing outward and in once or twice on their way. It was a sturdy table though, and could seat at least eight people; but right now it was just her, Weiss and Neo. 

Ruby had made herself a nice seven-egg mushroom and cheese omelette with a side of toast, with strawberry jam. She figured that they had missed at least one breakfast in the last two days of running around Mantle and Atlas, so she was gonna make up for it now. Weiss and Neo had worked together to make a grilled chicken salad of some sort, it made her smile to see Weiss getting along with her Soulmate already. 

Weiss was seated in the middle chair on one side of the table, with Ruby and Neo to her sides. Ruby liked sitting next to Weiss while eating, no having to worry about which side she sat on to avoid bumping elbows with right-handed people. Speaking of right handed people, Neo had either luckily or perceptively chosen Weiss’ right side to sit on, so that they didn’t bump elbows. It made for a nice post-fight meal, though she missed the chatter of sharing a meal with their whole group. At least Salem kept the kitchen on Monstro stocked pretty well, the ingredients seemed decently fresh and her strawberry jam on toast was _scrumptious_. 

The sound of a door opening grabbed their attention, showing Emerald and Mercury walking into the dining room. They had new outfits on, Mercury’s mostly looked like he added a grey jacket over the top of his old outfit. It also had his emblem on his chest in black, a giant winged shoe. Emerald had on a white cropped jacket that did look a lot warmer than what she used to wear, though it was still cropped and the sleeves didn’t go down all the way. All in all they looked just a _little_ warmer for Atlas weather. Judging by the smirk on Mercury’s face things were about to get awkward. 

“Oh look Em, the kids are here.” Mercury immediately snarked.

“Wow, come to join the winning side, huh?” Emerald tried to taunt them. 

Ruby wasn’t gonna let that work though, normally she’d be drawing Crescent Rose but this was not a normal day. So she swallowed her dislike for them(along with her most recent bite of omelette) and put on a smile. 

“Emmy, Merc, It’s been so long since we’ve seen you!” She smiled and zoomed over to them with a small burst of her semblance, “We haven’t seen you since what, Haven, right? Where have you been? Wait no, _how_ have you been?” 

Her plan had worked, Emerald and Mercury had both turned their smiles upside down and looked very annoyed with her now. Just keep killing ‘em with kindness.

Emerald threw her head back and groaned, “Seriously, how are you still this cheerful?” 

“It’s a choice.” She smiled. 

“Ugh, whatever. What are you doing here anyway?” Emerald asked. 

“Hm… “ Ruby tilted her head to the right and thought for a moment, “Just soulmate stuff, y’know?” 

Emerald looked her in the eye for a moment before shuddering, “Wow, that is so fucked. Like I know I’m on her side and all but being soulmates with her? No thanks.” 

“Aw come on, Salem’s not so--” Emerald raised an eyebrow at her, “...Okay yeah she’s not great.”

Mercury seemed to have recovered from his annoyance and had walked over to Weiss and Neo, “Oh wow, little miss ice cream found her soulmate too. Ice cream and ice princess? That’s _rich_.” 

Weiss scoffed, but Neo seemed to take it in stride, putting on a mock sad face before a mass of pink glass washed across her to reveal her as ...Mercury. Neo’s Mercury illusion looked sad and brought their hands to their eyes in that universal sign for crying. 

Mercury seemed to understand and scoffed as he crossed his arms and looked away, “As if I’d want a soulmate, _please._ ”

Neo’s illusion shattered into glass to reveal her smirking at the silver haired boy. 

Beside Neo, Weiss giggled.   
  
It had been awhile since Ruby had heard Weiss giggle like that and it brought a smile to her face just like it always did. She remembered the first time she’d heard Weiss make that sound. It was in the wake of their infamous food fight in the Beacon cafeteria when Professor Goodwitch had come in to scold them but had been held back from actually punishing them for it. Something about that moment had cracked Weiss’ cool image and she’d started giggling, which naturally had pulled the rest of team RWBY in with her and soon they were a mess, giggling and shrieking with laughter. She was really happy Neo could make Weiss laugh like that. 

“Whatever, I’m just here to grab food.” Mercury rolled his eyes and stomped into the kitchen. 

“So… truce?” She asked emerald.

Emerald glared at her for a moment, “...fine.” She then leaned closer to Ruby, “But if you try to hurt Cinder, _ever_ again, you’ll regret it.” Emerald then left for the kitchen. 

Emerald seemed really devoted to Cinder. Maybe they were dating? Though if they were dating then what about her mom and Cinder? Oh, maybe they were platonic soulmates, that would make a lot of sense, what with her dad also being her mom’s soulmate and she _knew_ they were in love. Yeah, that had to be it, her mom wouldn’t cheat on her dad.

She returned to her seat at the table and grinned at Neo, that had been pretty funny what she did with Mercury earlier. Neo gave a fake innocent face and then grinned back at her, maybe they could get along and be friends. Neo seemed fun and she was able to get Weiss to laugh, which was honestly an accomplishment. Even after getting out from under the shadow of her Father, Weiss was still the type to be composed most of the time. She only really let her guard down with a select few people, like the original beacon group. 

“Well, that happened.” Weiss said around a smile. 

Ruby slumped, “Yeah it did, and now I’m tired. How long has it been since we slept?” 

“Far, _far_ too long.” Weiss answered. 

“I vote for bedtime.” Ruby flopped forward onto the table. 

She felt Weiss move next to her and pull on her hood, “Come on, let’s go to bed then.” 

“Sleeeeeep, why are you so far away…?”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
With the help of Neo, Weiss was able to support Ruby through the hallways and back toward the room she had been left in before. Ruby was being obstinate and continuing to act like she was half asleep, requiring Weiss to hold her up under one arm and Neo under the other; typical Ruby shenanigans. Of course she played along and berated Ruby for being ridiculous, however she wasn’t afraid now to admit she was enjoying this. 

After reaching the room she had been left in she informed Neo that she would take care of putting Ruby to bed. Neo smiled and nodded at her before skipping away happily. She certainly knew how to make her style of silliness look good. Where Ruby was silly by nature and by accident, Neo was decidedly more deliberate about it. Opening the door she managed to maneuver Ruby onto the bed.

Ruby started to remove her corset with not a hint of her earlier drowsiness, of course Ruby chose now to have energy to get ready for bed. Weiss opted to investigate the room in more detail. There was a closet, but there was nothing inside of it. The small washroom lacked nearly all amenities aside from toilet paper. Most notably she couldn’t find a toothbrush for any of them, causing her to frown. As she walked back into the room she smiled weakly at Ruby. 

“Well, no signs of a toothbrush, but at least there’s a washroom.” 

Ruby nodded her understanding before looking down and away, “Weiss …would you be okay staying with me tonight?”

Weiss’ face flushed immediately. Did she realize what she was asking? There was a single bed in the room and it was only a full size. She couldn’t really mean… Weiss swallowed hard. 

“I just …don’t really want to sleep in one of these rooms by myself, you know? It’s kinda ...creepy.” 

She heaved a silent sigh of relief while Ruby wasn’t looking. This was fine. 

“I know only one bed is kinda awkward, but it’s not that different from sleeping in bunk beds just a few feet away from each other, right?” Ruby asked as she looked up at Weiss. 

“It’s…” _very different,_ “…fine. Of course I’ll stay with you Ruby.” 

Ruby smiled at her, relief written across her face. She really didn’t want to sleep alone here did she? Well Weiss couldn’t really blame her, the grimm decorations in the room were certainly unsettling. As Ruby resumed undressing Weiss beat a hasty retreat with a mumbled cry about changing in the washroom. 

Closing the door she leaned back against it breathing heavily, Ruby Rose was going to be the death of her. Sure they had undressed around each other before, but that was with night clothes to change into and often others in the room as well. Of course that wasn’t to mention the fact they weren’t _sharing a bed_ , either. She was far too gay for this. 

Slowly she managed to get ahold of her breathing and undress down to her slip. It wasn’t that different from her nightgown, just sleeveless and strapless. It would have to do for sleeping attire, as the other options were …not an option. She blushed once again imagining herself and Ruby in said ‘non-options’. Eventually she was able to calm down and return to the room. 

Ruby had taken off the majority of her combat outfit, leaving her in just her shorts and long sleeved shirt. Weiss tried very hard not to stare at the bare legs exposed. Very hard. She forced herself to move to the bed and sit down on the side of it a few feet away from Ruby. 

“Oh, Weiss, do you want help taking your hair down?” Ruby asked with a smile that Weiss was grateful to focus on. 

“Oh, um, sure. Thank you Ruby.” She hadn’t been planning to take her hair down, but she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to have Ruby’s hands combing through her hair.   
  
Ruby jumped up behind her on the bed and settled down. Weiss sighed in relief as Ruby began the process by removing her tiara comb pin. She enjoyed the styling of her hair braid, but the relief of taking it all down was sometimes so worth the hassle of styling it again later. Add to that Ruby’s finger’s beginning to comb through her now undone hair and she was in paradise. 

"So ... Neopolitan, huh?" Ruby probed.

She scoffed, "As if you have any room to talk."

"Yeah well at least Neo makes you laugh." Ruby chuckled lightly. 

That brought on a frown. Neo had made her laugh. She hadn't noticed it at the time, but she had been rather friendly with Neo. It usually took her much longer to warm up to someone, and she had only really met Neo an hour or so ago. She had even told herself she wasn't going to give up on Ruby just to jump onto her soulmate, yet here she was laughing at her antics and enjoying her company. The thought scared her. 

"Ruby… I'm scared."

Ruby stopped combing her hair to lean forward and look her in the eyes. She looked down to avoid Ruby's eyes.

"Scared of what?”

"All this soulmate business… When I met Neo I told myself I wouldn't give up on- give up on my goals, just to jump into bed with my soulmate right after meeting her. Yet here I am already laughing with her and smiling."

"Just because you're being friendly with her doesn't mean you're jumping into bed with her." Ruby put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up into her smile. 

"It's not like me though. When have I ever been so familiar with someone I've only known for an hour? Why am I acting like this?" She turned to look forward and away from Ruby. "I feel like I'm losing control of myself."

Ruby squeezed her shoulder, "Isn't that what being soulmates means? That you naturally get along with them really well? It's a prediction, a physical sign of what's going to happen naturally, who you're going to be with." 

Her heart ached at Ruby’s words. 

"Well what if I don't want it to happen? I'm the one in control of my life, no one else." She was frustrated, but she turned to Ruby anyway, "What if I don't want to be with her? What if I want to be with someone else?" Her voice cracked at the end, she could feel the tears in her eyes. 

Ruby just stared at her in wide-eyed surprise. 

"Where is my choice in this?" She whispered. 

She hated this. She hated the universe or the gods or fate, whatever was responsible. And to make things worse, she'd all but confessed her feelings to Ruby. This was all such a mess. 

Warm arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her back. Ruby was hugging her. She couldn't stop the tears anymore, not wrapped in Ruby’s embrace. Ugly undignified sobs escaped her.   
  
Why was life always like this for her? Hadn't she suffered enough? 

"Weiss, shhhh… it'll be okay." Ruby's words were soft and comforting as she felt fingers running through her hair. 

She couldn't stop herself from crying more. She twisted and Ruby’s grasp to bury her face in the girl’s chest. Ruby continued to hold her close and still had never felt safer, but that just made it all the worse. Why couldn't she just stay here, stay with Ruby? Why did she have to have a soulmate?! 

"It's not fair…!" She wept.

"I know Weiss, I know…" One of Ruby's hands was rubbing small circles on her back now. 

Eventually, after what felt like a very long time, her sobs died down. The sniffles took longer, but with Ruby's soothing words and warm touches she managed. She hated that this was the closest she'd ever been with Ruby, that she'd seen her fall apart like this. She was too tired to cry about it anymore though. 

"...Thank you." She mumbled into Ruby's chest. 

"I'll always be here for you Weiss, don't worry."

She smiled at that. Ruby might not be her soulmate, but she was perfect in Weiss' eyes. Ruby's hand felt really good rubbing circles on her back. So warm. 

"And you don't have to be with Neo at all if you really don't want to."

She sighed. 

"It's not that I don't want to. I'd just rather be with-" She stopped herself. Not only had she not realized she didn't hate the idea of being closer to Neo, she had almost blurted out everything to Ruby. She buried her face in Ruby's collar bone again. 

Ruby, blessedly, didn't bring up what she'd almost said. Instead she just let her be for several more minutes. 

"We should get some sleep." Ruby said. 

Weiss just nodded and worked herself under the blankets of the bed while Ruby got up to snuff out all the candles. She missed the feeling of hugging Ruby, but she figured she should be thankful for what she got. To her surprise, however, immediately upon getting in the bed with her, Ruby pulled her into her arms again.

She feigned struggling but Ruby shushed her. "Don't fight it, you need this."

She faked a huff but smiled in the dark before burying her face into the chest of her favorite person on Remnant. 

"Good night Weiss."

"Good night Ruby."

And it was. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


(((Content Warning starts here)))

  
  
Salem sat upon her throne and was once again alone with her thoughts. Her eternal companion, her eternal foe. Her thoughts would never leave her so long as she lived, that was the worst tragedy of her life. She could outlive, avoid, or eliminate any problem she wished. Her thoughts however, were another matter. They could not be outlived, they could not be avoided, and they could not be eliminated; they were as eternal as she. 

Today her thoughts featured her _soulmate_ , Ruby Rose. She suspected the girl would occupy her thoughts very frequently for some time, which did not bother her nearly as much as one might think. If Ruby was the focus of her thoughts then she could almost ignore those thoughts that she was so very tired of. The girl was energetic and terribly optimistic, not unlike her mother. Would she come to hate her, just as her mother did? Salem wasn’t sure why she cared. 

She leaned on an armrest with her palm raised upward, the Lamp of Knowledge slowly spinning as it floated mere inches above her hand. Yesterday Ruby had explained how to use the lamp, however the information that only a single question remained made her choice of question all the more important. Her wording would need to be precise to receive the answer she needed- if that answer was even possible. No, she needed to hold on to her hope. For this one thing she could hope. 

Ruby Rose was clearly the type to hold onto hope for unrealistic things; _not unlike herself_ , a small part of her noted before she could crush that doubt. How she ended up with an optimist for a soulmate was beyond her. For that matter, how she ended up with a soulmate at all was beyond her. 

Leaning her head back she released a deep sigh, the answer was obvious of course. Existence is cruel and this was just another way for it to be worse. Perhaps she would find herself needing to kill her soulmate and thus be driven mad by the eternal pain, as Tyrian had been. It would only be fitting for fate to be so cruel to her. 

With an internal snarl she wrenched her thoughts back to Ruby, before they could stray any further. The girl could be useful, _if_ she could be persuaded away from her foolish idealism. She had uses for young women with silver eyes and her hold on Cinder was now at risk. Of course Salem herself was responsible for that risk.   
  
She had made a mistake in telling Ruby of her mother and was even now taking her to the ‘dead’ woman. Her own weakness disgusted her. She still didn’t fully understand why she had divulged that information, she had been shocked by the girl’s response to her treatment of Cinder. Not that she was unhappy with what she had done, but that she’d had the audacity to _scold_ her. Something in her had even felt guilty for a moment, long enough that she had done something terribly uncharacteristic. She had tried to make amends for what she had done.

Weak. 

And then there was the incident from her command center, or ‘second throne’ as Ruby referred to it. She had been moments away from teaching Cinder a lesson for second guessing _her_ commands and Ruby Rose had put a hand on her shoulder and all but _scolded her_ for what she was about to do. The nerve of the girl was astonishing. Though perhaps not as astonishing as how it had frozen her for a moment, staring with her mouth agape while her mind struggled to understand what was happening. The fact that she had done as the girl wanted, by simply dismissing Cinder instead of teaching her a much needed lesson, was the worst part. 

Cinder likely thought her weak, or thrall to the Rose girl now. Her first thought, of course, was to establish dominance over both of them. However, with the new thought of her likely losing her hold on Cinder soon, perhaps that was not the correct move. In a single day Ruby Rose had upended her carefully laid plans without any need for a weapon beyond her voice. 

Still, she had given her the means to use the Lamp of Knowledge, so perhaps all was not lost. Depending on the answer she was given she may have very little else to deal with in this world. 

In addition to that, she was able to avoid her previous plan involving the capture of Oz, in his newest stolen life.

Ozma.   
  
Her first love, her savior, former lover, father of her children.   
  
Deceiver, _weakling_ , betrayer, mortal enemy. 

She shuddered as she wrenched her focus away from the spiral of thoughts that came from _that man_. 

As luck would have it she was granted a distraction. Cinder walked into her throne room and strode to the foot of the steps leading to her. She inclined her head in the weakest attempt at a bow that Salem had ever seen. She was lucky Salem wanted a distraction. 

“Cinder, how good of you to join me. I trust you’ve had a warm reunion with your _disciples_.” 

Cinder was clenching her jaw in obvious frustration. Oh yes, her hold on the girl was weak indeed. Perhaps the freedom to find her own way and prove herself again had been too much, no matter, now. 

“Mercury and Emerald were unable to free Doctor Watts with their _limited_ time. Though they returned with Tyrian.”

“I am well aware of Tyrian’s return and your disciple’s failure. Have you brought any _important_ information for me or just come to seethe?” 

And seethe Cinder did. She had openly bared her teeth in anger now, “ _What_ is your plan for the girl?” 

Salem blinked slowly and deliberately. So Cinder had an interest in the girl. She had assumed it was a simple matter of revenge, but perhaps there was more to it than she initially thought. “And why would that be important to you, dear Cinder?”

Cinder growled. _Growled_! Before she could answer, though, Salem cut her off. 

“It doesn’t matter. My plans are none of your concern until _I_ choose to inform you of them.” With her hand held out in a claw-like gesture and twisting it slowly, dark energy radiated from it in tandem with Cinder’s arm. The result was the grimm arm seeming to wither and contort at unnatural angles, causing Cinder to scream in pain. The lesson needed to be taught. 

Cinder dropped to her knees in front of her as Salem stood from her throne. She glided to the edge of the dais and looked down her nose at the miserable girl clutching at her arm in agony. After a long ten count she released the spell and waited for Cinder to recover.

“I see I must teach you the same lesson I taught your disciples.” She activated the spell once more, causing Cinder to cry out again. She dismissed it a moment later, “It's important not to lose sight of what drives us: Love, justice, reverence... but the moment you put your desires before _my_ own... they will be lost to you.”

“Now leave.” She commanded, and the newly cowed Cinder limped away, retreating like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. 

Once she was alone again Salem sighed and walked around her dais. It wasn’t that she liked disciplining her followers, it was simply necessary. Without bending them to her will they would be like wild dogs, more likely to ruin her plans than help. She had tried a lighter touch, once upon a time, it had ended with her set back further than she began. Now she knew better. It was best to keep them on a short leash. 

No more than a minute later the sound of the side door opening heralded the arrival of Ruby Rose. She withheld a sigh. Lovely, now it was time to deal with her soulmate once again, and this time without any time to recenter herself from her encounter with Cinder. She chose not to acknowledge Ruby’s presence, for now. 

Ruby cleared her throat behind her, “Um, hi… Salem.” 

What did the girl want? She turned to face her. Ruby was standing on top of her dais, her throne was part way between them, but not enough to truly obstruct their vision. She looked uncomfortable, as if the stammering wasn’t evidence enough. She wore an awkward smile that made her pity the girl, no one liked feeling awkward. 

“Ruby Rose.” She acknowledged. 

“Hi! Er, I guess I already said that. Um… So what’s the plan for today?”

She arched an eyebrow, what a ridiculous question, “We still have over a day’s worth of flight over the ocean. You are, of course, free to entertain yourself however you wish. I would recommend you sleep at some point, however.”

“Right, flying …over the ocean on a grimm whale, how could I forget that, haha.”

She schooled her face to neutrality, but inside she wanted to smile at Ruby’s apparent lack of a plan for this conversation. Or perhaps she did have a plan? She didn’t expect Ruby to be the type to carefully choose her words or plan the direction she wanted a conversation to go, that would be more like her friend, Weiss Schnee. 

“But I was actually wondering about you,” Ruby looked down at her feet for a moment, “what are your plans for the day?” 

She arched an eyebrow. 

“Oh, but not like evil plans or master plans, no no no. I mean more like everyday ...normal person plans. Not that you’re normal! You’re kind of the definition of ‘not normal’, y’know?” 

She tilted her head lightly, allowing the girl to keep going. 

“Oh, but not in a _bad_ way or anything er- actually maybe it kinda is in a bad way… I-I mean if that’s what you’re going for that is. That is what you’re going for, right?” 

She couldn’t help it. She laughed.   
  
Well she laughed Internally, outwardly she maintained her composure by breaking eye contact with Ruby and moving to sit on her throne. She didn’t respond of course, for if she did she was sure she would truly laugh and that was _not_ part of her plan. So she chose to focus on a critical examination of Ruby Rose instead. 

Short. Lopsided spiked black hair with red tips that barely went below her chin. A cute face, leaning toward the wide side. A small frame that still managed to be shapely. An interesting fashion sense, lots of reds and blacks, she could appreciate that. The girl was still rambling a bit, looking down at the ground and kicking at nothing. Cute really was the best word to describe her. 

“Why are you here, _Little Rose?_ ” 

Ruby looked up at her with a hint of surprise, “Well it’s just… we’re soulmates so I thought that maybe we should get to know each other.” 

“...You want to get to know me.” It had to be a trick, the girl couldn’t be this naive- this innocent. Surely she had an ulterior motive, she had to. _She’s not the type._ She growled internally. 

“Yeah! I mean, it seems like something out there thinks we’d be good together, that’s what being soulmates is about.” Ruby smiled at her now, “So… I thought that we could get to know each other, figure out why that is.”

Salem paused to consider the idea. This girl wanted to get to know her. She couldn’t quite rule out the possibility of it being a trick, though she couldn’t think of any reason why it would be. Ruby Rose wanted to get to know her. It was a silly idea. What was the point, to find common interests? Ruby was a teenager and she was a millenia old witch who’d indirectly killed a countless number of people.   
  
Her _soulmate_ wanted to get to know her. 

She sighed, “ _How_ would you propose we go about that?”

Ruby’s face lit up, “Oh! So I thought we could play the question game.” 

“The ...question game.” 

“Yeah. It’s a game where you take turns asking each other questions. Of course we could avoid anything too serious, just things like what your favorite food is or if you’ve done a particular thing.”

The playing field for this game was far from level. Ruby had much more to gain from this than she did, however the excuse to focus on something that wasn’t _her thoughts_ was too appealing to let go.

“Very well. Who shall start?” She asked. 

“Oh, I’ll start us off, and if there’s anything you don’t want to answer then just feel free to pass on answering okay?” Ruby was _still_ smiling, somehow, though she did take a moment to look around. “Before we start is there a chair or something I could use to sit on? Or I guess we could go to a different room if you’d like.”

Salem nodded and summoned forth her magic to create a chair for Ruby next to her throne. The chair seemed to grow from the ground with a red glow around the base. The sight of the chair was a bit surprising however. She hadn’t thought about what the chair should look like, explicitly, so the magic had drawn the shape from her subconscious. The form of the chair, however, matched her throne exactly, aside from being slightly smaller in all dimensions. 

She successfully hid her surprise and with a sweep of her hand and a bit of magic turning the heavy throne and ...chair, toward each other. 

Ruby seemed to look a little uncomfortable at her seat, but then shrugged and hopped into it. She curled her legs to the side and a bit underneath her as she leaned on the armrest. Salem made sure to gracefully sit in her throne to balance out the frivolity of her soulmate. 

“Okay. Okay okay okay. What is …your favorite food?” Ruby asked with an exaggerated point at Salem. 

She blinked. The girl could ask anything she wanted and she chose ...her favorite food. Her thoughts of this being a trick dwindled. Still if the girl wanted to know her favorite food, the truth might interest her. 

“That is a …somewhat complicated answer. I haven’t eaten food in ...a very long time.”

Ruby’s eyes widened, “Whaaaat? But how? And why? Food is so tasty!”

“It is a …side effect of my _condition_. I’ve no need to eat due to the curse of immortality and beyond that… Some things did change in me when I leapt into the Pools of Grimm. The relevant information here is that I can no longer taste food.” She found it awkward to be so open with information about herself. Lifetimes of playing the part of the unapproachable dark queen had made for few instances like this. 

Ruby looked like she might cry, eyes wide and mouth pouting, “That’s so sad… I don’t know if I could live without the sweet taste of strawberries or cookies… oh, or pocky!”

Salem shrugged. She didn’t know what ‘pocky’ was, but assumed it was something sweet. Sweet things would match well with Ruby. 

“Alright well, it’s your turn now. Oh! It’s common courtesy to answer your own question if you can, so _my_ favorite food is strawberries. Fresh are the best, but I like most things strawberry flavored.” Ruby slowly broke into a smile as she spoke. 

Salem simply nodded her understanding but then came across a dilemma. What should she ask Ruby? Frivolous questions seemed to be common, but they weren’t useful to her. Should she play along and ask a question with no meaning or gather useful information? Ruby was looking at her expectantly, though after a few moments she looked confused. Salem knew she was taking too long, but she couldn’t decide what to do. Suddenly Ruby’s face took on a devious smirk. 

“Ohhhhh, I know what I’m gonna ask next” She sang. 

Her eyes narrowed and she made a choice, “Why did you choose to become a huntress?” On the outside it might not seem too personal or too frivolous, however it was information that she could use in the future. It was good to know what motivated those under you. 

“Oh. Uh, wow I didn’t think that question would come back around for me.”   
  
Salem arched an eyebrow. 

Ruby looked a bit embarrassed, “Back at Beacon one of my professors asked the rest of my team that question while we were on a mission, he never did ask me though.” Ruby paused for a moment to tilt her head in thought, “I guess a lot of it had to do with my mom. She was a huntress and after she …yeah… I kinda wanted to be just like her. Plus my Dad and Uncle are huntsmen as well and they always taught me that I should protect people however I can so… I guess it all just fit together, y’know?”

So the girl’s attachment to her mother was even stronger than she had thought. She had known her issues ran deep, but thought they were just negative. However, it would seem she had managed to also put her mother on a pedestal as well. That may make things in the future even more complicated. If she sided with her mother then Salem’s plans could be set back for quite some time.

“Alright, for your next question… Why do you take so long to respond to people?” Ruby seemed very pleased with herself over this question. 

Now that was an interesting question. Perhaps the girl was more perceptive than she had first thought. 

“Several reasons, really. It forces others to wait on me, establishing who is in control of the situation. It also allows fear to creep into their thoughts, which is nearly always useful.”

“...And?” Ruby probed. 

“Clever girl.” She allowed a smile to reach her face, “Yes, it also ensures I have time to formulate the correct response.” Definitely more perceptive than she had thought, and sporting no small amount of intuition as well. 

Ruby looked extremely pleased with herself as she finished her answer. She must have been looking for a weakness and thought she had found one there. She would learn how mistaken she was, in time. 

The questions continued for some time, more than an hour at least. They were primarily frivolous things, likes and dislikes, with a smattering of incidental facts about each other. It was …not unpleasant. At the very least it kept her focused on the here and now, which the weak part of her was grateful for. They began to wind down, both struggling to come up with questions, that was until Ruby put forth a question she had not been expecting. 

“Salem…” Ruby started quietly, “What are you planning to ask the lamp?” 

She thought for a long moment on her answer. She could of course choose not to answer, as it was most assuredly different from the rest of their game. However something about Ruby made her want to be honest with her. Perhaps it was the way the girl smiled at her so often for so little. It had certainly been a long time since anyone had smiled at her, aside from Tyrian, but the madman hardly counted. Perhaps it was because she had been curious about who she is. Or perhaps it was because she seemed to have hope for her to change. Yes, that must be it. It would be best to get rid of that hope. The truth would do quite nicely for that. 

“My goal has remained largely unchanged throughout my ‘eternal life’, barring the small time I spent with Ozma.” She leaned back into her chair and released the lamp from her grip, leaving it to float on the armrest, “Everything I have done has been to further that goal.”

Ruby’s eyes widened, “So you really want to destroy humanity?”

Salem scoffed, how absurd, “I have given you a lens through which to view my actions, examine them all, even the oldest.” 

“The ...oldest?” Ruby's eyes slowly closed as she brought a finger to her lips to think, “The oldest… No… You don’t mean…” Her eyes snapped open and went wide with fear. 

“Yes. The question I would ask is this: How can I die?” 

  
  


* * *

  
  
BONUS SCENE

  
  
“What’s your birth date?” Ruby asked with a smile. 

They had been at this ‘question game’ for the better part of an hour. The vast majority of it was simple questions with simpler answers. Her birth date definitely fell into that category as well, so she didn’t take any time to consider her answer. 

“39 Karshal, Second Hazzat.” 

Ruby stared at her like she had grown a new set of limbs, “Haz-what?” 

“Hazzat, the second of them.” She raised an eyebrow. 

“…Wh-what’s a Hazzat?” 

She sighed and shook her head, “A cycle of the Greeting Moon and the Farewell Moon, of course. Are you not familiar with the calendar?”

“I …what? What kind of calendar is that?!” Ruby looked well and truly baffled. 

“The _moon_ calendar? Six Hazzats per year, juxtaposed with the seasonal calendar.” Honestly how could she be _this_ ignorant? She knew from their game that the girl largely went through life based on practical talent, but this was pushing the limits of ignorance. 

“…Uhhhh…” 

She sighed, “It would seem your education was _severely_ lacking, thus it falls to _me_ to illuminate you on this most _basic_ aspect of the world.” She got up from her throne to pace back and forth in front of Ruby. Her agitation was obvious, but she couldn’t bring herself to control it. “The moon calendar is used to track the Hazzats, the cycles of the greeting and farewell moon. For reference that is why we honor the greeting moon for the gifts it brings us. The reason we light candles during the dark moon phase at the end of the hazzat is to honor the farewell moon and provide a light to guide the greeting moon back to us.” 

She felt like a schoolteacher, teaching the basics to an overgrown child. 

“We track the majority of our dates and holidays on the moon calendar, including birth dates. The seasonal calendar is largely used to track seasonal holidays. However given the natural drift of the moon calendar versus the seasonal calendar sometimes holidays from both line up and that is when you see the truly great holidays, such as Everdusk, when we celebrate Midsummer and the Day of the Lost. 

She kept her back to her soulmate for a long moment, allowing her lecture to set in. That hadn’t been so bad. Yes she had gotten a bit ...frustrated for a moment there, but she thought she’d done an admirable job of educating Ruby. She turned to see Ruby looking like she was starting to put things together. 

“Are we clear then on the basic calendar system?” She asked. 

“I _think_ I understand? Wait, what’s a Karshal?” 

Salem screamed and stormed off of the dais.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was the biggest chapter yet, but I had a ton of fun writing it. Thanks so much for reading this chapter and this story! 
> 
> As usual you here are some edits of the soulmates we've seen so far, to see them with their new eye colors: https://imgur.com/gallery/q8aF52v
> 
> Credit to my good friend Mistreve for the idea of this bonus scene and the last, she's a gem. She even created this little calendar system for it. You should check out her fics over at https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistreve/pseuds/Mistreve
> 
> Now for some somewhat bad news. I'll be putting Heterochromance on hiatus until the end of Volume 8. I want to incorporate as much as I can from V8 and I think this is the best way to do so. In the mean time I'll still be working on Heterochromance some, but with the freedom to change things if I need to due to V8 information that's presented. 
> 
> I'll also be starting a new fic here in the next few weeks, so if you'd like to see more of my writing then keep an eye out for that.


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